RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA: A SHIFT TO POSITIVE FOREIGN POLICIES

Bakhtier RASHIDOV

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Bakhtier Rashidov, Independent researcher (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)

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Evolution of Foreign Policy Ideas

Throughout the entire period of post-Soviet development, Russia has been harrowed by domestic problems: an entirely new distribution of political and economic power and the resultant reshuffling at the top; frantic efforts to bring remote regions, which imagined themselves “independent principalities,” into line; the war in Chechnia, etc. Some of the ministries, too, thought they were free to pursue their own policies uncorrelated with the RF Foreign Ministry. The Ministry of Atomic Energy, for example, put forward the initiative of selling nuclear reactors to Iran. Politicians remained locked in a fierce struggle for and against democratic principles; some of them even wanted to restore the great-power approaches. For this reason, other states treated Russia with caution and resorted to preventive measures. On the other hand, this deprived Russia of a chance to pursue a more or less effective foreign policy.

The evolution of Russia’s foreign policy approaches within the CIS is best illustrated by the notorious paper “SNG: nachalo ili konets istorii” (The CIS: the Beginning or End of History) and the recent statements by President Putin.

The paper, authored by prominent political scientists Konstantin Zatulin and Andranik Migranian and permeated with imperial arrogance, said in part: “Only active measures (up to and including destabilization of the………….

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