Russia’s new foreign policy
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev defined Russia’s foreign policy (via Stratfor):
First, Russia recognizes the primacy of the fundamental principles of international law, which define the relations between civilized peoples. We will build our relations with other countries within the framework of these principles and this concept of international law.
Second, the world should be multipolar. A single-pole world is unacceptable. Domination is something we cannot allow. We cannot accept a world order in which one country makes all the decisions, even as serious and influential a country as the United States of America. Such a world is unstable and threatened by conflict.
Third, Russia does not want confrontation with any other country. Russia has no intention of isolating itself. We will develop friendly relations with Europe, the United States, and other countries, as much as is possible.
Fourth, protecting the lives and dignity of our citizens, wherever they may be, is an unquestionable priority for our country. Our foreign policy decisions will be based on this need. We will also protect the interests of our business community abroad. It should be clear to all that we will respond to any aggressive acts committed against us.
Finally, fifth, as is the case of other countries, there are regions in which Russia has privileged interests. These regions are home to countries with which we share special historical relations and are bound together as friends and good neighbors. We will pay particular attention to our work in these regions and build friendly ties with these countries, our close neighbors. These are the principles I will follow in carrying out our foreign policy.
Sounds like a swell policy, particularly points four and five. Then again, we’re not living next door to Russia in Ukraine, with its 18% Russian population.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 am
Point 4 sounds suspiciously like the justification Nazi Germany used to annex the Sudetenland and to invade Poland. And I think it was the nominal justification for the invasion of France: to take back Alsace-Lorraine, wasn’t it?
Anyway, what with the Soviet policy of dispersing Russians into all the conquered territories of the USSR, point 4 would justify invasion of all the former Soviet states, not just Ukraine. In particular, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
And there’s the whole question of Kaliningrad, which is geographically isolated from the rest of Russia. How soon before they start demanding a land connection?
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
From my point of view, Medvedev is contradicting himself with point 1 and point 5. Russia will obey international law has long as it doesn’t stand in the way of ‘priveleged interests’. Is that the way others read it or am I way off base?