Russia's Foreign Policy: An Overview of 25 Years of Transition

In: International studies, Band 53, Heft 3-4, S. 210-226

Abstract

This article provides a broad overview of Russian foreign policy in the last three decades. It has divided this period into three broad categories—neoliberalism and the West-centric policy (1991–1995); Eurasianism and the search for multipolarity (1996–2006); and crossing the Rubicon (2007–2015)—marked by external interventions. Taking domestic factors into account, it analyses how Russian foreign policy took a radical turn from being a West-centric to a complete break with the West. Russian interventions in Georgia, Ukraine and Syria have revived the spectre of the beginning of a new Cold War. Towards the end, it discusses how Russia has developed a close economic and strategic partnership with China, especially after the sanctions from the West.