Russian Foreign Policy as Exercise in Nation Building

Abstract

When Vladimir Putin came back to the Kremlin in May 2012, Russia’s foreign policy took a new turn. Putin had assessed the results of the foreign policy course undertaken by his protégé Dmitry Medvedev and had drawn conclusions. In a nutshell, Medvedev, Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012, had been sent by Putin, formally prime minister but still Russia’s top leader, on a sort of scouting mission to the West to determine what was possible to achieve with the United States and Europe. Putin held Medvedev on a very long leash, allowing him to negotiate not only strategic arms reductions but also joint ballistic missile defence (BMD) with NATO; to abstain in UN Security Council resolutions on the use of force by the West in countries, such as Libya, where Russia’s vital interests were not involved; to conclude modernization alliances with the leading economies; to finalize the WTO accession process; and to open negotiations for OECD accession.