Russian Politics Today Stability and Fragility

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia has aspired to remain a major power in international relations. The status of “great power” has remained essential to Russia even after end of the period of Soviet grandeur and the post-Soviet transition. Until the mid-2000s, the country’s leaders sought to revive its great power status in partnership with Western nations. Since the mid-2000s, Russia has moved in the direction of challenging Western global priorities by stressing values of national sovereignty and patriotism. More recently, Russia has sought to establish areas of mutual noninterference in relations with the West. In 2022, this approach resulted in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the escalation of tensions and confrontation with the United States and NATO. Outside the West, Moscow has aspired to take advantage of global economic and geopolitical opportunities including in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. The chapter reviews the main developments in Russian foreign policy since 1991, giving an overview of the country’s relations with Western and non-Western countries, while focusing on recent years. Studying Russian foreign policy in general, and historical and contemporary goals in particular, is important for both policy-relevant and theoretical reasons. This chapter addresses these goals as well as policy choices following the dissolution of the USSR and discusses both realist and liberal explanations of Russian foreign policy and its limitations. Finally, this analysis will help formulate a framework to assess Russia’s ambition to become a major power in international relations in the future.