Putin's Eurasian identity for Russia is romantic and nostalgic. It makes sense to have a degree of economic integration, security arrangements, and extensive human contacts with those ex-Soviet republics which want them and who can contribute to Russia's own development. Yet, to subsume Russia within a Eurasian framework is backward-looking. Russia' s path in the 21st century does not lie through imitated restoration of historical patterns, but through openness to all sources of innovation. Russia's resources should be used for Russia's own advancement, not in pursuit of quasi-imperial projects.

Russia is not a newcomer to the world of international relations. It can look back on 1,150 years of statehood, but most of the time needs to look ahead. Its singular feature through the ages has been its independence, and so it should be, including independence from would-be clients or satellites. Russia is not and will not be part of the EU-Europe, but it is European by birth and culture, broadly similar in that sense to the United States. This is a huge advantage for a country which seeks to get ahead in this world. Being anti-Western, by contrast, kills this advantage.

Russia, however, is more than European. It stretches all the way to the Pacific, where it has maritime borders with America and Japan, alongside a land border with China. As a Euro-Pacific nation, Russia is in a good position to connect directly with all important economic, technological, political, military, and cultural players in the world—and keep the right balance among them in its foreign policy. It only needs to resist the temptation to repeat history.