The motivation for Russia's shift in geopolitical priorities is a desire to develop reliable partners. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin focused on enhancing Moscow's relationship with Washington. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives]. But Putin's strategic initiatives have been hampered by decades of mutual mistrust between the erstwhile Cold War enemies, as well as by economic competition connected with the development of Caspian Basin energy resources.
Over the past year, Russia has concluded strategic partnership agreements with the United States, EU members and other countries. Nevertheless Russia has no real and reliable strategic partners, prompting some to express concern about geopolitical isolation, some analysts say.
"There is no country or even a group of countries or an international institution that can or would want to give Russia some guarantees that its security, territorial integrity or at least its economic interests will be respected," writes the regional analyst Iskander Khisamov in the journal Ekspert.
"Thus, no mater how weak or disintegrated the Commonwealth of Independent States might be," Khisamov continued, "it remains Russia's main strategic priority more important than America, Europe or China and India."
As the recent agreement to establish a Russian air base in Kyrgyzstan underscores, Moscow is now keen to demonstrate that it remains a dominate regional power in Central Asia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives]. Khisamov, the political analyst, said the Russian base is meant to show that Moscow "is the true master of the post-Soviet space." The basing agreement also is indicative that Putin may be less accommodating in his dealings with the United States in 2003. Putin himself said in November that the era of Russian geopolitical concessions which began with the 1991 Soviet collapse and continued through the post-September 11 appearance of US military bases in Central Asia was coming to an end.
"Russia has ceded so much over the last decade that further
Editor's note:
Igor Torbakov is a freelance journalist who specializes in CIS political affairs. He has been a Regional Exchange Scholar at the Kennan Institute, Washington DC, and Research Scholar at the Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.
