Russia, NATO Enlargement, and “Regions of Privileged Interests”

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Georgian war, and five days after Moscow’s unilateral recognition of the independence of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on August 31, 2008 Russian President Dmitri Medvedev set out Russia’s five foreign policy principles of the new world order. The last principle emphasized that, as for other great powers, “there are regions in which Russia has privileged interests” (President of Russia, 2008).