Russian Foreign Policy

Understanding the RFP requires studying its national identity and interests and their historical evolution.

Since its emergence in international relations, constructivism has been widely used in the study of RFP and contributed to its formation. Constructivism seeks to understand the socially built national identity and “the other” that shapes it, and national interests determined by the national identity and status of the state in global affairs. According to the constructivist theory, the other (a cultural, geographical, or political entity) plays an essential role in defining the self. Another point that constructivists are drawing attention is the recognition of self by the other.

The neorealist theory has long focused on the structure of the system and how it has shaped the state behaviour.

It is important to remember that since Gorbachev, whose “new political thinking doctrine” is one of the products of liberalist Russian ideas, liberal ideas and policies have found a place in Russian politics.

Several schools of foreign policy thoughts have dominated Russia’s political discourse after the collapse of the Soviet Union and departure from Marxism. A. Tsygankov indicates three individual foreign policy schools – Westernist, statist, and civilizationist.

Before the 1917 revolution, Russian elites were divided into two groups as nationalist Slavophiles and Westernizers.

Westernizers, also called Atlanticists, are liberals who advocate Russian engagement to the western free-market economy and better relations with the US and the EU. They see western institutions as the primary instruments for the common development of humanity. Furthermore, the earlier westernizers assumed the US as the key actor of international relations and the NATO expansion in Eastern European countries as a positive development for Russia

Eurasianists claim the importance of the geographical context for the acquisition of great power status. The Eurasian region, comprising former Soviet countries, has priority for the RFP. Maintaining economic and political security in this region is critically vital for Russian security. For its part, this view does not underestimate or stand against the West. The balance between the West and East in RFP is significant.

The third school of RFP is civilizationist thinking, claiming the uniqueness of Russian culture and its values, defending its superiority over western culture. Some of the civilizationists have a neo-imperialist view that favors the Russian empire; another group underlines the role of the Orthodox Church.

European part, only about 20% of all territories, is inhabited by 55% of the total Russian population.

Russia’s economy, sixth-largest of the world in 2019, is predominantly based on the export of hydrocarbons. Russia is the world’s leading natural gas and the second-biggest oil exporter, making her one of the major players in the global energy market.

When Vladimir Putin assumed power in 2000, the decision-making procedure was highly disordered due to the competition of bureaucratic actors, and Vladimir Putin pursued the recentralization of the power in the President’s hands.

The US has consistently had a central position in the Russian foreign policy concerning its great unshaken power-ness since the Cold War. How Russia has described its place in the IR is highly dependent on its relations to the US.

“Finlandization,” originally a term of derision that eventually became a term of art, described Finland’s status as a neutral buffer state during the Cold War. Reflecting Finland’s precarious geography of a long shared border with the Soviet Union, further complicated by a shared history of some years under Russian territorial control, the term Finlandization represented an implicit bargain by all parties in the Cold War conflict to resist any provocative steps to change the status quo.

The first Russian emperor Peter the Great’s Europeanization/modernization policies of Russia underlie today’s focal position of Europe in Russian politics.

Eastern European countries (Ukraineceased to participate in the CIS in 2014, Belarus, and Moldova) have a Slavic identity, Russian population, and a shared history with Russia. Further, adjacent territories of these countries to NATO and the EU constitute a security-zone for the Russian Federation.

The Iranian Nuclear Program has enabled Russia to utilize its diplomacy as well. Russia, supplying Iran with nuclear technology, on the one hand, supported the UN sanctions on Iran in 2006, 2007, and 2010 over its nuclear activities and became a signatory of the JCPOA to control Iranian nuclear activity in 2015.

Considering that most of the Russian hydrocarbon and other natural resources are located in the Arctic or subArctic region, and RAZ represents 11% of Russian GDP and 22% of its exports, the Arctic region is vital for Russian economic and energy security.

The Russian-Chinese treaty (1997) on the decrease of the number of border troops, signed with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, forms the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The BRICS has been an integral part of the RFP, which aims to diversify its foreign policy options and decrease its dependency on the West and challenge Western hegemony in the world order.