Carnegie Moscow Center
During the G20 summit, the world leaders need to tackle serious economic challenges. At the same time, the abrupt halt to a scheduled U.S.-Russia summit and a potential intervention in Syria have pushed security issues to the top of the summit’s agenda.
Misunderstandings surrounding the Meseberg Memorandum on Transdniestria and EU-Russian security cooperation testify to the difficulties of Russian-Western communication.
After abandoning the Soviet Union, Russia prolonged and reproduced the same basic system, but without communism. In comparison, Ukraine is on the positive side of the process of taking shape as a state and a nation.
Russia and the European Union are competing intensely for influence in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and other countries.
The Kremlin appears to have found its distinct international role. It is based on conservative nationalism; support for traditional international law with its emphasis on national sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs of states; and a strong preference for evolutionary path of development over revolutionary upheavals.
While the world waits for a Fourth Wave of Democracy, it is witnessing a diametrically different phenomenon: a surge of new authoritarianism.
Shifts in Russia’s foreign policy following Putin’s return to power result from significant changes in the country’s domestic situation and a shifting global environment.
For the foreseeable future, the Commonwealth of Independent States should remain Russia’s significant foreign policy priority. Its policies toward individual CIS countries will be shaped by Russian leaders’ practical interests and needs, and also by the changing environment.
Western society wants to bring back a normative dimension to foreign policy and stop the export of corruption from authoritarian and semi-authoritarian countries to the West.
Poland’s decision to indirectly criticize Russia on human rights issues as part of the EU and not as a single state is a strategic decision. This allows Warsaw to voice its concerns while still maintaining its position in the EU and reaping the benefits of productive relations with Moscow.