Russian Foreign-Policy Culture and the Horde: A Hypothesis

Abstract

This article scrutinizes the historical impact of the Mongolian Horde on Russia’s foreign policy behavior. The author comes up with a hypothesis that relations with the Horde were not only important for Russia during the critical historical period of its formation, but also largely determined its unique foreign-policy culture and practical implementation of Russian foreign policy in subsequent periods. The author maintains that the key element of this impact was peaceful integration of the powerful neighbor which posed the biggest threat to the Great Russians for more than two hundred years.