Russia in Global Affairs

An attempt at decommunization in Russia has brought about the failure of de-Stalinization. As the Yeltsin regime positioned itself as an opponent of all Soviet history, many Russians were reluctant to see a larger part of their lives thrown into the dustbin.

The country’s geographic location largely predetermines its foreign policy, as well as the trajectory of its socioeconomic development. However, even the most negative geographical limitations can be overcome via connectivity and compatibility that are the passport to the success of Eurasian integration.

If the U.S. and NATO continue to step up their activity near Russia’s borders, it would have to take extra measures to ensure the security. As a result, Russia and NATO would wind up as hostages to a security dilemma, and the risk of conflict would rise.

The Russian-Belarusian Zapad (West) military exercises, which were held in the latter half of September, have disappointed many people.

As Russia's annual strategic exercise, titled Zapad-2017, approaches, media reports have contended that Moscow is engaged in a military buildup along NATO's borders, with particular trepidation over security considerations in the Baltics. Ironically, Russia's military modernization and force structure expansion had been ignoring the Baltic region until only recently.

The serious decline in Russia’s relations with the West has breathed a new life into NATO, which returned to its traditional role, the containment of Russia.

Russia has stopped trying to turn itself into Europe, a goal Russian politicians and philosophers have been advocating for 300 years. Russia now has a more cautious attitude to long-term political and military involvement outside the national borders, and maintains a selective presence in regions of priority importance.

The risk of Russia’s involvement in low-intensity military conflicts has been growing since the early 2000s. Instability along many stretches of the border has forced Moscow to increase its military presence in the neighboring areas.

Manipulative use of history becomes one of the central issues in today’s political language. When the Nord Stream gas pipeline is described as a new Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, this devalues people’ memory and paralyzes their ability to conduct a substantive political discussion.