Russian Minorities and Intimidation Tactics

Abstract

Rather than seeing recent Russian actions as part of a grand strategy or master plan, it is worth taking a moment to consider the opposite – that such actions may be reactive measures from a regime more lacking grand strategies than is generally supposed. Focusing on the issue of Russian minorities in Ukraine, it is clear that while Putin has been most assertive in his utilisation of Russian minorities as a pretext to interfere with Ukraine, the threat to do so is nothing new. Ever since the prospect of an independent Ukraine arose, during the rule of Gorbachev, Russian elites have made implicit and explicit threats which utilised the Russian minority in Ukraine. The fact that Ukrainian compliance had been achieved without having to resort to such measures, which are likely to prove destructive in the long term, should not be taken as part of a grand master plan. Rather, they should be seen as desperate reactive measures of a regime that must have seen less and less available options.