Russia in Global Affairs

Russian support for Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which came about as a result of a number of circumstances, may play the role of a catalyst for Russia’s modernization, but the two territories are very different and require different approaches.

The Russian election campaign and related political events have distracted the public’s attention from the fact that the country has found itself in new circumstances. Luck, which has helped Moscow to greatly consolidate its positions over the past few years, is giving way to increasingly growing problems. The general situation may be far less favorable in the new political cycle.

Objectively, Russia's strategic goal is to gain full control over the gas and oil pipeline network across the post-Soviet space. Presently, the main priority of Russia’s energy strategy should be to block – at any cost and by any means – the implementation of a gas pipeline project from Kazakhstan to Turkey bypassing Russia, as well as all other projects that threaten to cut Russia off from vital gas sources.

The instability in some of the CIS countries has been brought about by the failure of the post-Soviet integration process, which in turn was due to the insufficient actions of the present Russian bureaucracy. A new generation of politicians must come to power that would be responsible to their country and capable of modernizing Russia and, finally, carrying out post-Soviet integration.

A strategic goal for Moscow would be to bring the process of the Soviet Union’s disintegration to a logical end. This would entail international recognition of the right to self-determination for those peoples living in the post-Soviet area, who are willing to be incorporated into Russia.

The developed countries are acting toward the ex-Soviet property on the territory of the Russian Federation in a way that resembles a popular saying about “cooking a hare that has not yet been killed.” The hare is getting weak and has lost the ability to walk without support, but it continues talking about its role in world history and about mutually beneficial cooperation with hostile groups of hunters and marauders.