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RUSSIA'S DEFENSE POLICY
Igor Muradyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments25944.html
Published: 11:50:17 - 26/04/2012
The current situation in Russia is a paradox because though the
defense and security system and foreign policy were under Putin's
control, they still expected a final political definition, which has
eventually been provided. In Russia, nothing could be more fatal and
non-productive than a pending status but now a race of proposals and
initiatives has started where all services and structures, overtaking
each other, are trying to strengthen their foothold in politics and
the Russian administration.
For fifteen years the political class of Russia has undergone
meticulous filtration and may think that at last the moment has come
when the main groups of the Russian elite have matured enough to
fulfill most strategic goals relating to the new phase of Putin's
the political activity.
It cannot be denied that interesting, creative groups of professionals
have appeared in Russia who are ready to set to the solution of tough
tasks in science, technology, politics and security. The Russian
elite are inspired by the fact that the Russian political life and
the oligarchic bourgeoisie are interacting in harmony.
Why is this circumstance considered a sign of maturity of the modern
Russian elite while the concept of maturity is composed of a number
of components including ideological and spiritual ones? Nevertheless,
the responsible structures in Russia have started working out a number
of principled directions of the national policy which involve the
regional policy which became an important direction, since Russia,
having lost the status of a world power, is trying to regain its
influence on the region.
Russia's regional policy has such components as modernization of army
and navy, geo-economics, especially energy, development of Northern
and Siberian areas, demographic challenges in the Arctic and Pacific,
Central Asia, Black Sea and Caucasian regions.
The Black Sea-Caucasus region is the most problematic aspect
of Russia's regional politics, and still there is no hope for
fundamental change of the situation, the improvement of Russia's
situation. Russia was even unable to resolve the core conflict issues
in its relationships not only with the world but also with regional
centers of power.
In the past period, Russia failed to agree with the Western and Asian
powers on the problems in this region. It is crisp and clear that the
economic and military-political resources are limited and there is
no hope that Russia will be able to overcome the threats and risks
which occurred in the neighboring regions associated with high risk
of regional war.
Now Russia is trying to demonstrate the persistence of its intentions
but how long and how consistently will this policy be conducted? In
this regard, a situation may occur when the Russian elite prefer
playing different foreign political games, making various tricks,
testing the foreign ambience, entering some political bargaining with
the U.S. and NATO, European Union, China, Turkey, Iran and maybe also
with leading Arab countries.
As of now, Russia is trying to define and confirm its positions on the
known geopolitical limits and border which suppose the implementation
of the security and defense policy, at least in the former Soviet
Union. It will lead to very complicated prospects for the Black and
Caucasian states and Central Asian regions.
Currently, Russia has enough serious agreements with a number of
states in Eurasia and it is trying to demonstrate the feasibility
of its commitments, but having such agreements Russia is ready to
manipulate relations with its closest partners and allies.
We can presume the problem is that Russia is not satisfied with the
formats of the CSTO and Eurasian economic union and it can sacrifice
the relations with other states for the sake of fulfillment of its
obligations within CSTO. That is, the existing military and economic
organizations do not represent a value for Russia.
There is no need to invent some complicated hypothetical situations
in order to understand the conditions under which Russia is ready to
sacrifice the interests of its partners and allies. It should also be
understood that Russia's allies themselves are not very "devoted" to
Russia, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. Russian
politicians openly suggest that the relationship with the so-called
allies is not so valuable and highly questionable, and Russia "has
the right" to develop relations with other states and partners that
may enter into conflict with the interests of the current allies.
Moreover, this opinion belongs to both the policy of "patriotic"
and Atlantic orientation.
From: Baghdasarian
Igor Muradyan
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/comments25944.html
Published: 11:50:17 - 26/04/2012
The current situation in Russia is a paradox because though the
defense and security system and foreign policy were under Putin's
control, they still expected a final political definition, which has
eventually been provided. In Russia, nothing could be more fatal and
non-productive than a pending status but now a race of proposals and
initiatives has started where all services and structures, overtaking
each other, are trying to strengthen their foothold in politics and
the Russian administration.
For fifteen years the political class of Russia has undergone
meticulous filtration and may think that at last the moment has come
when the main groups of the Russian elite have matured enough to
fulfill most strategic goals relating to the new phase of Putin's
the political activity.
It cannot be denied that interesting, creative groups of professionals
have appeared in Russia who are ready to set to the solution of tough
tasks in science, technology, politics and security. The Russian
elite are inspired by the fact that the Russian political life and
the oligarchic bourgeoisie are interacting in harmony.
Why is this circumstance considered a sign of maturity of the modern
Russian elite while the concept of maturity is composed of a number
of components including ideological and spiritual ones? Nevertheless,
the responsible structures in Russia have started working out a number
of principled directions of the national policy which involve the
regional policy which became an important direction, since Russia,
having lost the status of a world power, is trying to regain its
influence on the region.
Russia's regional policy has such components as modernization of army
and navy, geo-economics, especially energy, development of Northern
and Siberian areas, demographic challenges in the Arctic and Pacific,
Central Asia, Black Sea and Caucasian regions.
The Black Sea-Caucasus region is the most problematic aspect
of Russia's regional politics, and still there is no hope for
fundamental change of the situation, the improvement of Russia's
situation. Russia was even unable to resolve the core conflict issues
in its relationships not only with the world but also with regional
centers of power.
In the past period, Russia failed to agree with the Western and Asian
powers on the problems in this region. It is crisp and clear that the
economic and military-political resources are limited and there is
no hope that Russia will be able to overcome the threats and risks
which occurred in the neighboring regions associated with high risk
of regional war.
Now Russia is trying to demonstrate the persistence of its intentions
but how long and how consistently will this policy be conducted? In
this regard, a situation may occur when the Russian elite prefer
playing different foreign political games, making various tricks,
testing the foreign ambience, entering some political bargaining with
the U.S. and NATO, European Union, China, Turkey, Iran and maybe also
with leading Arab countries.
As of now, Russia is trying to define and confirm its positions on the
known geopolitical limits and border which suppose the implementation
of the security and defense policy, at least in the former Soviet
Union. It will lead to very complicated prospects for the Black and
Caucasian states and Central Asian regions.
Currently, Russia has enough serious agreements with a number of
states in Eurasia and it is trying to demonstrate the feasibility
of its commitments, but having such agreements Russia is ready to
manipulate relations with its closest partners and allies.
We can presume the problem is that Russia is not satisfied with the
formats of the CSTO and Eurasian economic union and it can sacrifice
the relations with other states for the sake of fulfillment of its
obligations within CSTO. That is, the existing military and economic
organizations do not represent a value for Russia.
There is no need to invent some complicated hypothetical situations
in order to understand the conditions under which Russia is ready to
sacrifice the interests of its partners and allies. It should also be
understood that Russia's allies themselves are not very "devoted" to
Russia, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. Russian
politicians openly suggest that the relationship with the so-called
allies is not so valuable and highly questionable, and Russia "has
the right" to develop relations with other states and partners that
may enter into conflict with the interests of the current allies.
Moreover, this opinion belongs to both the policy of "patriotic"
and Atlantic orientation.
From: Baghdasarian