The Evolution of Russian Foreign Policy in the 1990s

Abstract

Despite a disillusionment with early hopes for Russia's integration into a North Atlantic political, economic and security community and a decidedly nationalist tilt to much foreign policy discourse, Russia throughout the 1990s remained committed to a pragmatic, non-ideological course of asserting specifically Russian state interests, notably its desire for predominance within the CIS, without in the process jeopardizing working relations with the Western world. Russian relations with Eastern Europe and with the European Union, and its diplomacy during the NATO military action against Serbia, demonstrate that, despite its straitened economic circumstances, Russia is capable of commanding the respect of a large country, if no longer a great power. This departure from liberalism to realism in diplomacy and foreign policy may well also be highly realistic from Russia's perspective.

Keywords:

• Non-ideological Foreign Policy
• Russian State Interests
• Cis
• West
• Nato
• Serbia
• Realism