Russia's geopolitical orientation towards the former Soviet states: was Russia able to discard its imperial legacy?

摘要

This thesis analyses Russia's military, economic and diplomatic policies towards the newlyudindependent states, particularly towards the members of the CIS, during Boris Yeltsin's firstudterm as President of an independent Russia (December 1991 to July 1996). The objective is touddetermine whether after the collapse of the Soviet Union the new Russian state tried to restoreuda sphere of influence or informal empire over the former Soviet republics - as the French didudin sub-Saharan Africa after decolonisation - or whether instead Russia's policies reflected audgenuine desire to establish normal state-to-state relations with the new states.udChapter one analyses the underlying principles of Russia's foreign policy towards the formerudSoviet states and examines the debate on Russian foreign policy priorities which took placeudduring the first years of Russia's independence. This section also overviews Russia's policiesudtowards the Russian minorities that inhabit the Baltic states, in order to determine whetherudRussia attempted to use this diplomatic tool to further its own interests in the area. Chapterudtwo analyses the peculiar structure of the Commonwealth of Independent States and theudextent to which Russia used this political framework to achieve hegemony over the formerudSoviet republics. Chapter three looks at Russia's participation in the wars in Transdniestria,udAbkhazia, Nagorno-Karabagh, and Tajikistan, and Chapter four analyses Russia's energyudtrade with Ukraine, Belarus, and the Caspian states.udThe thesis reaches the conclusion that during 1992- mid 1996 Russia's policies only partiallyudreflected an attempt to reassert the country's influence over the republics of the former SovietudUnion and create an informal empire in the post-Soviet space. Russia's behaviour wasudparticularly assertive in the military field as well as in its attempts to build a Russian dominatedudCIS military infrastructure. However, Russia's policies were less aggressive in theudeconomic sphere, except probably as far as energy policy is concerned, and regarding the fateudof Russians living beyond the new borders. More often than not, though, Russia's policiesudfollowed an ambivalent and incoherent pattern, a result of the weak and fragmented characterudof the Russian state.