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Russia’s national revival and new assertiveness under President Vladimir Putin is not really home made but reflects highly auspicious international conditions. Putin’s administration has been keen to take advantage of this favourable environment. Yet, although some of the Kremlin’s moves seem clear and reasonable, others can scarcely be described as rational or forward-looking.
Vladimir Putin is lucky because he happened to become president of Russia amid skyrocketing oil prices. But Vladimir’s good fortune extends beyond his petro-luck.
The Russian government has resorted to police practices strongly reminiscent of those used some three decades ago in the Soviet Union. Putin wants recognition of Russia's leading position on the world scene and respect for its economic and geopolitical interests. But he demands that it be recognized as is, not at the cost of softening his increasingly authoritarian policies.
For the last two decades, Soviet and the Russian leaders worked with Western leaders to integrate the former Soviet empire, and above all else Russia, into the western community of states. To accelerate integration, it is necessary to fortify those multilateral institutions in which Russia is already a member and invent new security institutions that help face common enemies.
Among the Russian oil majors, Lukoil is the most ambitious when it comes to plans outside the country. The Middle East is central to its strategy of concentrating 23 percent of its total production outside of Russia by 2015, and these plans in large part focus on Iraq.
Carnegie Senior Associate and Director of the Russian and Eurasian Program Andrew C. Kuchins discussed the U.S.-Russian relations, conditions in Russia and U.S efforts to negotiate a spent nuclear agreement.
A live Webcast press conference with Carnegie experts Andrew C. Kuchins, Mark Medish, Rose Gottemoeller and Dmitri Trenin.
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