Carnegie Moscow Center
Security in the Baltic Sea region is a major element in the European politico-military landscape. The region demands special attention as it is where NATO and Russia are direct neighbors, sharing land borders. Where does the region fit in Russia’s foreign and security policy? How to preserve a minimum of security in the region? Join Ambassador Vygaudas Ušackas and Dmitri Trenin to explore these and other issues.
Russia and Turkey share many important interests, providing them with opportunities for valuable collaboration and cooperation in their common neighborhood, which stretches from the South Caucasus and the Levant to Central Asia and Afghanistan.
The current conflict between the European Union and Russia is a clash between a postmodern world, in which states prefer to use soft power to achieve their foreign policy goals, and a modern one, in which the use of force in foreign policy is considered acceptable.
According to this year’s Transatlantic Trends survey, Russians have an increasingly unfavorable view of the United States and the EU. Americans and Europeans also had more negative outlooks toward Russia in 2014 than previous years.
Russia-EU relations are of a technical rather than strategic character nowadays. A parallel functioning of the EU and the Eurasian Union would lead to more debate about strategic vision of Europe and the Eurasian continent.
Dmitri Trenin participated in a live Twitter Q&A on the situation in Syria, the G20 summit, and the U.S.-Russia relations.
According to this year’s Transatlantic Trends survey, majority opinions toward Russia on both sides of the Atlantic have turned from favorable to unfavorable, while Russian opinions of the West was generally favorable.
Ukraine’s European integration has slowed and relations with Russia show no signs of progress.
After the presidential election, which Vladimir Putin won, a significant portion of the population doubts the legitimacy of the election results. These doubts will contribute to the rise of social and political movements in Russia.
Russia has been in a post-empire state for the last 20 years. There is no way back to an empire now—Russia has passed the point of no return in this respect.