... a falsifier of history, an actor undermining legitimate institutions, a constraint on strategic autonomy through energy dependence, and a destabilizing force in interethnic relations.
It is precisely in the seven dimensions listed above that Russian society demonstrates the greatest resilience. In Western societies with fragmented identities, these dimensions are weakly interconnected—pressure on one is not compensated for by the others, and each must be protected separately. In the Russian context, the dimensions reinforce one another—pressure ...
... peacemaking measures and initiatives. Germany should therefore practice neutrality.
The areas of historic eastern Germany, including West and East Prussia and Silesia, with the stories and the people who once lived there and those who live there now, should be ... ... common language and common unspoken rituals, such as the simple Easter and Christmas rituals, that naturally and casually hold a society together and strengthen it.
Realism, objectivity and neutrality should be the guiding principles. We need fewer hotheads ...
On April 8, 2025, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), together with the Institute of World Politics and Economics (IWPE, Serbia), held a roundtable on “The Balkan Region in the Eurasian Security System.”
On April 8, 2025, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), together with the Institute of World Politics and Economics (IWPE, Serbia), held a roundtable on “The Balkan Region in the Eurasian Security System.” The event took place in a hybrid format and brought together representatives...
... is also not incidental, given the promotion of democracy—one of the most utilized essential tools of foreign policy in the West [
18
]—in Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson’s work, especially when there is no conclusive evidence that democratic governance ... ... Notwithstanding its utmost pertinence to the current condition, this word is hardly mentioned in discussions aimed at solving society’s ills. Instead, democracy and other concepts characterizing liberal international order are advocated at compounding ...
... election on November 5, 2024, is exceptionally important—not only because of the ongoing confrontation between Russia and the West (as the winning side could significantly influence either the continuation or cessation of this conflict) but also because ... ... fundamentally about values: a clash of ideological trends, worldviews, and ultimately conceptions of human nature, one’s place in society, and one’s goals and responsibilities.
The phenomenon of Donald Trump’s popularity, which represents the hopes of ...
... the majority in the extraordinary parliamentary elections again, despite all the opposition’s attempts to pull the shocked society to its side. And after the full restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, liquidation of the separatist project ... ... name but a statement of new, post-conflict realities in Armenia’s history.
Pro-Moscow proclivity despite the seemingly pro-Western stance
So, what does Pashinyan’s Yerevan, convinced of its own invulnerability, want in 2024? It wants to capitalize ...
... sanctions, will it conduct large-scale military operations that are incapable of gaining the support of both the elites and society at large? Last year ended with unanswered answers to these questions; 2023 added certainty. The turning point is behind ... ... crisis mode to the new normal. What are the parameters of this normality?
The first parameter is relations between Russia and the West. In 2022, they shifted towards acute confrontation. Its features were large-scale military and financial assistance to Ukraine,...
... conflict with the American-led West, has been reshaping Russia massively from within. The economy, faced with the most severe sanctions so far imposed on any country, is not only seeking ways to go around the sanctions or substitute for the absence of Western products and technologies, but is beginning to transform itself away from being the world’s gas station that Russia has come to be known for in the wake of the Soviet Union’s demise. Russian society, which had become increasingly atomized as few made instant fortunes, is now relearning solidarity and finding a common cause through volunteer work. In terms of values, patriotism—reviled and scorned in the immediate post-Soviet period—now ...
Russia’s Path to the ‘World Majority’
Long before relations between Russia and the West spiralled into a comprehensive political crisis, officials and experts here were enthusiastically voicing ideas about developing ties with the rest of the world. At the administrative level, such a course began to take shape as early as the 1990s,...
... sanctions by the US has in many cases proved to be a decisive factor in determining the opportunities and constraints for non-Western countries to develop economic and other cooperation with Moscow. Under US pressure, Turkey decided to refuse to service ... ... migration, etc.) speak more to the common sense and pragmatism of Americans than to an increasingly isolationist sentiment in society. The fundamental problem in the US is not even some specific manifestation of current economic and social malaise, but ...
