İtobiad (Dec 2021)
Russia’s Foreign Policy in the Near Abroad: A Challenge for the Global and Regional Rivalry
Abstract
As Russia’s western-oriented foreign policy failed in the early years of Yeltsin’s presidency, new policy alternatives came to the fore. Neo-Eurasianism became influential on Russian foreign and security policies. Russia defined post-Soviet space as its privileged sphere of interest and made policies to achieve its goals in the region. However Russia was not alone there. Global and regional powers pursued their own interests in the region as well. This complicated the situation bringing the parties to a strong rivalry. The U.S. aimed at reducing Russian influence in the region as part of its global strategy and encouraged NATO’s eastward expansion and partnership programs with the regional countries. The European Union, on the other hand, launched European Neighbourhood Policy to support democratic transition, rule of law and public administration. Neighbouring states such as Turkey and Iran asserted themselves for cultural, economic and security concerns. China and India also pursued their economic and security interests. Russia declared the region as its exclusive zone of influence to promote its geopolitical interests by coining the term “the near abroad”. This term didn’t simply apply to its geographic proximity to Russia’s borders, rather it was deliberately picked as a warning for external actors not to intervene in the region and attempt to undermine its interests. This paper aims to examine Russia’s policies in the post-Soviet space within the context of global rivalry and power struggle. It begins with a conceptual analysis of the term and investigates it in the Russian security doctrines. Then it focuses on the polices of global and regional actors and Russia’s responses towards them. It concludes that Russia has never conceded and will never retreat back from its interests in “the near abroad”.
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