Russia’s Humanitarian Efforts and Its Distinctive Features: Syrian Conflict Case

Abstract

Russia’s humanitarian aid is aimed at a wide range of countries and sometimes becomes a distinctive feature of Russia’s international activity. Russia has been giving assistance to the population of war-torn Syria for more than a decade, with the growing extent of engagement in the process of conflict settlement. The Donbass conflict is also characterized by progressive dynamics of Russian involvement. However, in the author’s view the Syrian case is more demonstrative for estimating Russia’s humanitarian work, first of all because Russia does not regard Syrians as compatriots, which is the case with Donbass. This allows to shape general view of the Russian approach to humanitarian assistance and to specify unique features of the country’s humanitarian experience, following the dynamics of Russia’s humanitarian aid depending on the depth of Russia’s engagement in the developments “on the ground”. Russia’s humanitarian work is strongly state-based; there is an inclination towards bilateral – rather than multilateral – interaction. Moreover, in many aspects Russia’s humanitarian activity is still mainly focused on Russian citizens who have found themselves in a dangerous situation. These are the reasons to consider that in its humanitarian efforts the Russian Federation is driven by the interest of strengthening its own positions. Such pattern falls into the Wilsonian approach to humanitarian aid. However, some Russian humanitarian initiatives (for example repatriation of children from Syria and Iraq) entail no evident practical benefit for the country and are allegedly motivated only by moral incentives. This is not typical of a state if analyzed within the realist concept.