Maksim Samorukov is a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.
Samorukov’s research is focused on Russia’s relations with the states of Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe. From 2015-2022 he was a fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center based in Russia, until the center was closed down by the Russian authorities.
Before joining Carnegie in 2015, Samorukov worked at independent Russian media outlets including Slon.ru as an international correspondent and columnist, covering topics including Russian foreign policy and its ties with Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Balkans.
Before joining Slon.ru, Samorukov worked at Insider magazine, covering the Eastern European insurance markets.
As Moldovans prepare to go to the polls on Oct. 20, it looks like another round of the familiar geopolitical standoff between Russia and the West over the countries in Moscow’s former empire and sphere of influence.
Podcast host Alex Gabuev is joined by Maksim Samorukov, a fellow at Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, and by Paula Erizanu, a prominent writer and journalist from Chisinau who writes for Financial Times, The Guardian and The New York Times, to discuss the upcoming presidential election in Moldova and what leverage Moscow still has to interfere in Moldova’s path toward the EU.
Moscow’s approach to Moldova is to play for time and keep the country in geopolitical limbo by stoking internal divisions, stalling reforms, and fueling disenchantment with the pro-European course.
Moscow prefers to ignore occasional backsliding by its ‘Serbian friends’ as it sees the relationship with Belgrade as crucial to sustaining the semblance of Russian influence in the Balkans.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left a group of “in-between” European countries more vulnerable and insecure than ever before. This arc of instability spans from the South Caucasus through Moldova to the Western Balkans.
Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, and Serbia are caught in between Russia and the EU, building ties with the latter even as the former seeks to maintain influence there and deter the West.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday will be inaugurated to another six-year term. Most European Union countries are boycotting the ceremony.
Like the Soviet one that preceded it, his system is always on the brink of collapse.
By solving a Russian domestic crisis, the Belarusian leader has effectively joined the ranks of Russian grandees vying for Putin’s favor by eliminating irritating problems that could distract the president from his high-stakes geopolitical machinations.
Regardless of how worn-out Russians may be, therefore, Putin will stick to his selective perception of reality, looking for reasons for and ways to further escalate his addictive crusade against the current world order.
