The Nature of Foreign Policy of Russia - Case Study Example

Russian Foreign Policy The event of September 11 2001 has changed the face of foreign policies and the stance of world governments on diplomatic relations with other countries. Our focus at this juncture is to consider the impact of the event and post 9/11 scenario of changing policies of Russia. Vladimir Putin’s international moves have sent some strong signals to EU and USA. Moscow’s strategic cooperation with Washington and Brussels has given enthusiastic cries in those countries. Our discussion today revolves around the nature of foreign policy of Russia and its pragmatic nature in the present day world politics. We talk about the nature of policy which the Russian government has put forward and which talks about two key issues. Firstly it tries to look at Russia’s response to the events of 9/11 and it talks whether it was a turning point in their development of policies and secondly the paper addresses whether the foreign policy put forward by Putin is pragmatic in nature. September 11 2001 changed the face of world politics as so was Russia’s policies with other countries. During the time of Yeltsin and even the pre 9/11 reign of Putin the foreign policies was strikingly different of what it was portrayed after 9/11. There were signals of friendship and protests at the same time. Protests over expansion of NATO and military action in Balkans showcase the stance of Russian policy. After 9/11 the scenario completely changed, terrorism has become the highest priority for all the western nations and Russia was no exception, Moscow subway bombings and Terror tragedy at Beslan confirmed the priority levels which Russia has for terrorism. After 9/11 happened it was Putin who first contacted Washington and thereafter it was ensured that contact with Washington remained at good level. When we compare the policies post 9/11 and before it we can see some marked changes in it. We can say that Moscow under Yeltsin was more of action than words. The 1997 and 1999 incidents of Bosnia led to the confirmation of fact that Russia under Yeltsin has self limiting quality. On the other hand Putin followed a cautious policy which did no good for the country as there was no clear orientations of the plan and that people were confused about his policies structure and its nature. But the events post September brought out a change in his style and approach towards west in general and USA in particular. His policy of cooperation can be said as the changes taking place in the international environment. Russia support to America on global terrorism reflected the moves made by Putin. His blame on Islamic networks and continuous support on this agenda by joining hands with US at Taliban Operation to work towards it justifies his stance. Another thing which reflects changing attitudes and response of Russia after 9/11 events was acceptance of US military to set up a base in Central Asia, a key component in Russia’s external neighboring relational set up. While the events of 9/11 brought the change in relations of Russia with other western nations in particular USA, it did not make much impact on Russian stance on NATO. Author Alex Pravda quotes that” During his (Putin) to the USA in November 2001, the Russian President conceded that Baltic States has right to join NATO if they wish to”. This incident is justified by another incident wherein he held out the prospect of Moscow reconsidering opposition to NATO enlargement if the organization moved from military alliance to political organization. These incidents show the true scenario of Russia’s polices post 9/11 wherein it clearly has given prime importance to terrorism in its agenda and changed its foreign policy structure to suit the priority and at same time, it clearly demarcated its own polices with issues like NATO thus making its stand clear. Soon after January 2000, Vladimir Putin took over the seat of president and as per the observations of the path of foreign policy he chose while he was in power suggests that he pursued very cautious and at the same time a pragmatic policy. There was a speculation about his approach; it was thought to be hard line approach. However it soon understood that Putin’s foreign policy role was more or less on the same lines of his predecessor Yeltsin and that there would not be much change in whole scenario of foreign polices when compared to previous years. However there were changes in dealing with the approach to the policy implementation which were visible when Putin took over the seat. He has started traveling all the places around the country like other Soviet Republics which he considered as a top priority in his foreign policy agenda. He also made sure that his policy was proactive which was justified by his initiative taken on the case against problem of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. His command over the institutional and personnel arrangements related to the policy marks contrast with his predecessor’s policy. His idea of the concept of multipolarity as opposed to unipolarity (which he refers as single world hegemony by USA) and his non acceptance as NATO as model for international security marks his differences with the West. He believes that UN model of security as well as OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) as better models for the security of the regions. Putin’s temperamental and business managerial approach in tackling issues shows the difference of his style with his predecessors. These all instances show the pragmatism nature of his policies. The area of pragmatism which is shown by his ruling consists of both active and passive styles which were even more visible after the 9/11 incident. His ‘passive’ style of pragmatism deals with reasoned methods and which is demonstrated by his acceptance to difficult developments. Fine examples would be agreement of US forces in Central Asia and the idea of NATO expanding in regions like Baltic. In terms of ‘active’ pragmatism we can say that his idea of maximizing returns to the country and at the same time achieve an international prominence in terms of foreign relations was what made him a temperamental successor to Yeltsin. His active pragmatism stance was justified by his quick action resolve to have relations with soviet era republics so as to portray Russia as member in international community. His strong stance on global issues was demonstrated by his strong opposition to North Korean missile programme which made other world leader realize his capabilities as a leader. The event of 9/11 brought an opportunity for the country to make its objective clear by wanting to become an important international member of the community. America’s objective to destroy Taliban and Al khaeda network in central Asia meant that there is strong favorable issue of improving long term relations with USA. 9/11 also helped Moscow to address issues of Chechnya and other soviet republics of Central Asia. Taliban and Al khaeda was considered as major threat for disrupting the security of the region and cooperation with USA has certainly enhanced the security structure in southern region of the country and thus improved the security system for the country. Another thing is thought of Putin who believed that supporting Washington during its need would ease the negotiation of a compromise solution to the issue like missile defence and ABM treaty. The fact that, involvement of Washington with Moscow would help clear its debt, and also in process make move forward in attaining membership status at World Trade Organization makes it ideal situation for Russia to help USA. We can say that Putin is a leader who understands the importance of economic and security of the state and as author Neege quotes “He believes that it’s the quality of resource which matter whether it is hard military capabilities or soft security issue” defines the whole ideological principals which Putin adheres while dealing with foreign policy. In this rat race for power, the key for Russia will be to develop supporting relations with powerful and neighboring governments so as to confirm its status as key member of the global fraternity. As per the analysts who have analyzed the foreign policy of Putin, they have regarded the policy as “Putin Doctrine” whose main features were realism, abandonment of goal of pursuing parity with USA and integration with west as factor of economic prosperity. Relations with USA were distinctly cold during times of 80s and 90s but the situation changed drastically, Russia joined hands with America in bringing down the terrorism at the global arena by helping them to set up their base in Central Asia thereby giving US military access to Taliban and Central Asia. Russia too had its fair deal of Islamic attacks in the country with Chechnya and beslan tragedies, it was understandable to see Russia and USA to have same top priority in their agenda- terrorism. The advantage that Putin thought with smooth relations with USA was to have a protective cover at the southern part of the country and which was provided by US military base set up and thus Russia Security system was marginally strengthened. The cooperation among the countries continued for over a year when Moscow slowly started to realize the scenario that they are gaining as much as they expected. Russia was criticized by USA for their use of force and human rights violation against civilians in Chechnya. In 2002 there was tiff between Washington and Moscow over trade issues. Even some security issues were not up to the level which Moscow expected. The blow was given by USA when it left the ABM treaty and Russia in process left STAR II treaty thus making the things complicated. Even the SORT treaty was not helpful for Moscow since it was designed in asymmetric fashion. Another concern regarding security was NATO issue and its expansion. USA was bent upon NATO enlargement which was not taken wisely by the elite in Moscow and thus there was large-scale resentment among the people of the country. Although at NATO-Russia summit Russia was given some preferential treatment and it was satisfied to some extent, still the big picture was not as bright as Moscow expected a year back scenario of post 9/11. In 2002 Putin addressed his policy by saying that partnership with USA was unconditional priority and key element was to counter terrorism. Apart form USA; EU has been one of the main trading partners for Russia. And it was also EU which was responsible for the putting the case of Russia forward in WTO membership and so Putin and other elite people of Russia felt that EU and Russia represent a more prominent face of the West than ever before and that partnership would be fruitful for both of them in long term scenario. Few problems which are in the scenario are the slow nature of communication of EU with other countries and inaccessible nature of Kaliningrad. Also travel issues of visa for EU countries have created some sort of barrier among them. These issues might hinder the chance of Russia making an impact with EU community. Conclusion Until now we have mentioned the idea of Russia dealing with its foreign policy and its relations with powerful states like EU and USA. We have seen that one event has changed the course of international relations with countries. Russia has come a long way from the old cold war days of Gorbachev and Yeltsin and with Putin taking a strong proactive role in portraying the new dynamic Russia by making it an important key element in the international community. We have realized that the foreign policy of Putin is more of pragmatic nature than we can understand. The only problems which can hinder the whole issue are the issue of its internal problems- problems of Chechnya, its human rights system which has hit the country hard. The relations with USA after 9/11 have been on upward trend and it has grown strong enough to make its presence felt in the international community. The problem of the breakage in the association could prove harmful for Russia and its security of its bordering countries as it was because of USA that they have received strongest security in southern part. Thus the foreign policy of Russia has helped foster the relations with its next door soviet era republic neighbors and at the same with USA. It is expected that Russia would only grow in future and the Putin’s policies and strategies would be watched more keenly than ever before in the future. References 1. D lynch (1999) The Kosovo conflict and Russia: European Security, vol 8 no 4 pp 57-85 2. Neege (2001) the foreign policy of Russia. Moscow: Wiley & sons 3. Alex Pravda (2002) Putin’s Foreign Policy after September 11. Moscow: Wiley Read More