A lot of unresolved problems have accumulated on the borders of the Russian Federation
It is more important for Russia to be a strong regional or continental player than a global player.
This opinion was expressed in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets by the director of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrei Kortunov, answering a question about the success of Russian foreign policy in recent years.
He made it clear that everything depends on the criteria of success or failure and gave the example of the Russian operation in Syria.
“Unfortunately, in history it has often happened that Russia won the war, but lost the peace. Sooner or later, players with deeper pockets than ours will come to peaceful Syria. Naturally, any Syrian leader who is in dire need of financing the post-war reconstruction of his country will thank us for our help and reorient himself to other, wealthier partners,” says Kortunov.
He has no doubt that Russia has become a more active player on the world stage in recent years.
“Our presence today is noticeable in various regions of the world. But expanding our presence, say, in Africa or Latin America will never replace the task of establishing, if not friendly, but at least constructive relations with our closest neighbors. In a sense, it is more important for Russia to be a strong regional or continental player than a global player. And if you look at the map, at whom Russia borders and what kind of relations we have with these countries, then, I’m afraid, with the exception of China and two or three allies from the CIS, we have nothing special to brag about here,” the political scientist believes.
“Yes, of course, we can blame this on our partners, say that they are “Russophobes”, “American pawns”, etc. But this is precisely the art of diplomacy: negotiating with “difficult” and “inconvenient” partners. Therefore, to summarize: tactically, our foreign policy has proven to be very effective, but strategically, over the past seven to ten years, Russia has accumulated a lot of unresolved problems that will still have to be dealt with. And the longer they are postponed, the more difficult the decisions will be,” Kortunov concluded.
A mass of unresolved problems has accumulated on the borders of the Russian Federation.