Eurasia in Russian Foreign Policy: Interests, Opportunities and Constraints

Summary:

The Eurasian axis of Russian foreign policy had been given several impetuses over the last two years from 2013 to 2015. The most important of these had been the sharp deterioration in relations with the West against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis.

In response to such changes, Russia’s approach to multipolarity shifted: it was now understood to offer simultaneous access to several different sources of economic growth and modernisation. Success in Russia’s Eurasian foreign policy would require real effort to promote economic development and guarantee security.

In the field of development, Russia had a great potential but starts from a weak position. It had a significant advantage, however, in being able to underwrite regional security, an essential precondition for economic development at a time when the risks of the region descending into chaos were high. The politicization of economic projects ranked among the major risks associated with Eurasian integration.

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