4. Russia as a Regional Actor: Goals and Motivations

Under Boris Yeltsin’s presidency in the 1990s, Russia possessed neither the will nor the capability to assume a dominant role in its relations with its neighbours. Vladimir Putin came to office in 2000 with the goal of reversing the decline in Russia’s presence in the post-Soviet space. Putin’s new foreign policy included efforts to project Russian influence in the post-Soviet space through the establishment (or strengthening) of regional structures: Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). This chapter argues that Putin’s efforts simultaneously serve as a means of redesigning the role of Russia as the hegemonic leader of a regional bloc—a role that validates Moscow’s claim to be a great power. These efforts, however, are challenged by some factors which include the implications of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Russian leadership’s increasing tendency to conceive of Eurasian integration as a civilizational project.