Abstract
The current crisis in Russia’s relations with the West has more often than not been blamed in the West on Russia itself and the authoritarian policies pursued by Vladimir Putin. As reprehensible as many aspects of Russian policy might be, the West has contributed to the deterioration in the relationship by ignoring Russian policy concerns and attempting to take advantage of Russian weakness. By acting thus the West has not only created major problems for itself. It has also made any diplomatic solution to the Ukraine tragedy increasingly unlikely.
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Notes
Alexander Voloshin, a key figure in the administrations of both President Yeltsin and President Putin, noted the ways in which the United States ignored or attempted to undercut Russia’s position with its neighbours (cited in Jack, 2004, p. 290).
Former Russian Prime Minister Primakov has written, ‘Our conversations with [US Secretary of State] Warren Christopher left no doubts that they decided not to pay any attention to us as far as NATO enlargement was concerned’ (Primakov, 2004, p. 242; see also Matlock, 2014).
President Medvedev pointedly noted: ‘We really proved – including to those who sponsored the current regime in Georgia – that we are able to protect our citizens’ (Medvedev, 2008b).
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan are former members. Ukraine, Turkmenistan and Moldova have never been members of the CSTO.
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Acknowledgements
The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation for critical comments on an earlier version of this article provided by Andrei Tsygankov and by Bertil Nygren, as well as by the participants in the workshop ‘Actors, Processes and Architecture in the Contemporary Eurasian Order: Political, Economic and Security Challenges’, at the annual conference of the International Studies Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 25 March 2014.
