Russia in Global Affairs

But one thing is clear—we are entering an era of greater disunity, while unifying bonds between nations remain quite weak. Last time the world had a similar situation was during the interwar period. We will try to get out of this mess with minimal losses, but remember at the same time that not so long ago a similar situation ended in a world war.

We should gradually free foreign policy of rigid subordination to geopolitics and related super-involvement. Geopolitics won’t disappear, but becoming less engulfed in it is an important task for Russia to tackle.

The gradual transformation from a unipolar order to a more multipolar order seems to be well underway, and digital factors can be used to either slow or speed up the process.

Since it is unlikely that universalist claims of Western liberalism will evaporate any time soon, they will continue to produce a rationale for counter-ideological alignments.

The world of the future will be more complex and volatile than it looked just 20-30 years ago. There will be enough room for a variety of combinations by different world policy actors cooperating with each other in different formats. The concept of multilaterality might become one of the guidelines to follow in this process.

The implementation of the “Belt and Road” initiative became dependent on the pro et contra balance that is not conducive to cooperation for the time being. “Gains and prospects” are abstract, while “risks and threats,” on the contrary, are quite concrete and cannot be ignored.

Within the framework of “civilizational realism” existing contradictions between Russia and the West could be solved by reaching an agreement with the “civilizational leaders” of the Euro-Atlantic region to create a demilitarized buffer zone made up of limitrophe Eastern European states.

Even the most controversial Chinese assessments concerning Russian diplomacy are of interest as they are formulated not from the Western point of view but from the position of China as a new rising power seeking to create its own specific national style in diplomacy.

The world is not in disarray, it is in transition. As wealth and power move to the South and the East again after a couple of centuries, the validity of some normative assumptions and the efficacy of incumbent institutions that manage the world order is being severely tested.