Russia: Development Aid Policies and Perspectives

Abstract

After more than twenty years of independence, Russia has recovered from economic and political shocks and demonstrates its commitment to gain new political and economic role in the global development aid architecture. International development assistance provided by Russia to other countries has increased from USD 100 million in 2004 to USD 610 million in 2013. The Concept of Russia's participation in the international development assistance, approved in 2007 and updated in 2014, outlines Russia’s priorities in the international aid sphere. Based on review of this concept, available official statistics and expert estimates, this paper provides qualitative and quantitative analysis of the dynamics and perspectives of Russia’s transformation from the international aid recipient into one of the donor countries. The results indicate that there is a large gap between Russia’s political ambitions and actual development aid policies; moreover, there is a shift towards a “soft power” concept in political decision making. At the same time, the potential of Russia’s embedding into the international development aid system remains high.