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Report
16 Apr 2020

Forward to the Past? New/Old Theatres of Russia’s International Projection

ISPI Report

The Covid-19 emergency will likely exacerbate many longstanding vulnerabilities that Russia has been facing for years: excessive dependence on energy exports, clashes with the West, demographic problems, and a constant foreign policy overreach.

On foreign policy, however, Russia is not expected to take a step back. Today’s Russia is back in many “old” theatres where the Soviet Union was actively engaged. More than a quarter of a century after the fall of the USSR, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has made restoring his country’s great power status a primary goal of his 20 years in power.
What are the elements of continuity and change between Russia’s foreign policy and the Soviet Union’s? What are the political, historical, military and economic dimensions of Russia’s return to old Soviet theatres of influence? And how does this interact with Moscow’s long-standing narrative of a return to a multipolar world?

 

Table of Contents

Introduction, Paolo Magri

1. Russia First? The New Constitution’s Impact on Domestic and Foreign Policy, Elena Alekseenkova

2. Greater Eurasia. Opportunity or Downsizing for Russia?, Aldo Ferrari

3. Branding the Country and Its Leader: Soft Power Made in Russia, Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti

4. Russian Meddling in Democratic Processes in Europe and the US, Giorgio Comai

5. Arab Public Opinion: The View on Russia’s Foreign Policy, Wolfgang Mühlberger

6. Russia in Latin America:  Beyond Economic Opportunities, Alexandra G. Koval, Vladimir Rouvinski

7. Russia’s Enduring Quest for Great Power Status in Sub-Saharan Africa, Samuel Ramani

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