analysis
bold, strong and determined
The ideology behind russia’s foreign policy In March 2014, the Russian Duma declared the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea as a part of the Russian federation, after a month of political and social disturbances in the region following the popular uprising against and removal of the pro-Russian Ukrainian president Victor Janukovich.
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he Russian annexing of Crimea, was however not the first expansionist act made by Russia in recent years. Already in 2008, Russian troops invaded the northern Georgian territories of Abchazia and South Ossetia after similar disturbances. While most Western countries have condemned these actions as violations of international law, Vladimir Putin and his party United Russia have instead justified their actions by referring to “the protection and safety of the Russian people”. In effect, Putin has created his own doctrine – a doctrine alarmingly reminiscent of the third Reich’s.
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Since his rise to power in 1999, Vladimir Putin has slowly emerged as an authoritarian leader dedicated to establish himself and his party as the only power source in Russia. By disabling all opposition through legislation and effectively controlling the Russian oligarchs using threats of persecution, Putin has recently started looking beyond the Russian borders for political influence. In his public speeches and propaganda, he nowadays often refers to a “Russian people” – a people united in culture, language an religion, but also genes and race. However, the “Russian people” is divided, unjustly so, by borders inflicted upon them by their enemies – the Western world. By using this rhetoric, Putin has, at least among many ethnic Russians, emerged not only as the legitimate leader of Russia but of all territories inhabited by ethnic Russians, Russian speakers and members of the Russian-Orthodox church. In a way, Putin has created a new Russian empire in the minds of his followers – a thought that is appealing to many members of the Russian minorities all around the former USSR. By putting salience on the Russian identity, Putin has successfully