Abstract
Shifts in Russian foreign policy have accompanied the process of transition from the Soviet to the post-Soviet domestic order. From a close engagement with the West in the early 1990s, which brought disillusionment regarding the level of both the West’s and Russia’s commitment to the transition effort, policy evolved towards a new format that is more inclusive, pragmatic and assertive. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was soon defined as an area of ‘special interest’, and the Western dimension in Russian politics was balanced by the inclusion of an Eastern dimension, with China and India gaining primacy. While recognising the importance of the shift in Russian interest from the West to the East and keeping in mind that Russian relations with the East are often aimed at balancing current difficulties in relations with the West, we have focused in this volume on Russian policies towards its neighbourhood and on the interplay between Russia and the West in this region, which is the aspect of Western engagement in this area that has been of most concern to Russian policy.
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