Russian Approach Research Articles

Russia's Approach to UN Peacekeeping Operations

Russia's Approach to UN Peacekeeping Operations

Russia's Approach to UN Peacekeeping Operations

Russia's Approach to UN Peacekeeping Operations

Categorizing Cyber Activity Through an Information-psychological and Information-technological Perspective, Case Ukraine.

Russian approach to warfighting includes an informational facet. Western hemisphere usually treats cyber activity as a tool similar to traditional warfighting tools such as rifles, artillery and tanks, whereas the Russian approach has an informational and narrative stance to the whole conflict. Placing information in the focus, switches the cyber activity to serve either an informational-psychological or an informational-technical approach. Examining the activity from this non-conventional trait and correlating it to other activities during the execution, the study highlights the coordination of kinetic and non-kinetic actions in an altered manner. In this article I am examining cyber activity through the terms of information-psychological and information-technological approach to form an understanding of Russian or Russian supported activities in cyber space before and during the Ukraine crisis. This will recognize types of cyber activity connected to actions in the physical environment. Actions identified are categorized and placed in a matrix created on psychological and/or technical clout. From this matrix groups of activities are scrutinized in correlation to other activities to expose possible narratives or underlying themes. The study relies on a variant of Grounded theory and is selected to elude from examine technical methods and actions. The observed timeframe is for the first study from 2021, well before the current hot phase, until summer 2022. This article is the first part of a two-stage study, where the first part examines cyber activity through the terms of information-psychological and information-technological approach. The second study places the previous findings in correlation to actions, reactions and mitigation activities to find out how defensive measures were relevant or if the outcome were result of something else than deliberate defensive (cyber-)activities. Throughout the larger study, the underlying hypothesis is that there is a larger coordination of cyber activities than acknowledged related to the ongoing crisis.

Humanitarian Challenges of Great Power Conflict: Signs from Ukraine

Abstract Until the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there was little evidence of what a conventional war between the regular forces of peer competitors might look like today. After the total war of the twentieth century, the evolution of precision-guided munitions and drones set up the possibility of a new ideal type of conflict, in which U.S.-NATO coalitions could quickly defeat the regular forces of much weaker opponents, largely from a distance, while avoiding excess loss of civilian life. “Smart” weapons created the perception that when civilians were killed, this was an operational failure. Russia's approach to war, however, has not put a high priority on avoiding civilian casualties, but has shown that precise weapons could be used deliberately to target civilian infrastructure in ruthless and coercive air campaigns. In this essay, I suggest that the Russia-Ukraine War provides insight into what a major power war would look like. I contrast the two distinct approaches represented by Ukraine, strengthened by NATO weapons and informed by its concepts, and Russia, with its readiness to attack civil society. I focus on the resulting humanitarian disaster in Ukraine, where more than one-quarter of the population has been displaced and where Ukrainians in Russian-occupied territories have reported thousands of instances of war crimes. I conclude by considering the likelihood and potential consequences of Russia's use of nuclear weapons.

Russia’s approach to the new Development Strategy of the EAEU until 2045

The official position of Russia in relation to the development of a new Strategy for the development of the Eurasian Economic Union until 2045 is analyzed. Coincidences and discrepancies in the approaches of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are revealed, where the main goal of Russia is to create a full-fledged macro-region capable of resource, infrastructure and technological self-sufficiency. Five priorities of the Russian vision of integration within the EAEU are substantiated: 1) food and energy security, provision of key resources necessary for the development of human and industrial potential within the Union; 2) industrial cooperation within the Union, which is aimed at creating “responsibility zones” taking into account the already established industrial landscape to reduce internal competition in the EAEU and preventing the creation of duplicate productions; 3) shifting the emphasis in the development of transport and logistics infrastructure to the eastern and southern directions, which is dictated by the reorientation of trade flows in the face of sanctions pressure on Russia and Belarus; 4) self-sufficient financial architecture to replace the previous system built on transactions in dollars and euros, as well as Western financial technologies; 5) gradual transition in the EAEU to common principles and standards in the fields of education, healthcare, public administration through joint projects in the fields of science, culture, sports, tourism, so that citizens can directly feel the benefits of Eurasian integration. The author substantiates the preference of the Russian view of the future of the EAEU, considering the Russian approach more ambitious and in demand in modern conditions, suggesting considering the prospects for the development of the Union in the context of the formation of The Greater Eurasian Partnership.

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

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.

SOCIOCULTURAL ADAPTATION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS FROM NEIGHBORING AND DISTANT COUNTRIES: INTEGRATING ANALYTICAL CONTEXTS

This article presents a comparative study of the sociocultural adaptation of international students coming to Russia from neighboring (former Soviet republics) and distant countries and studying at the universities of the South Russian region. The preliminary overview of the studies reflects the different contexts in which the problem of adaptation is studied: economic, political, ethno-cultural-differential, and socio-identitarian. It is noted that the Russian approach to the organization of the educational process in groups of international students is characterized by its integrative nature. The implementation of educational tasks includes communicative opportunities for adaptation. This increases the well-being of international students in everyday life. At the same time, concern for the quality of the educational process and advanced teaching technologies affects the prestige and, consequently, the economic competitiveness of the university and the international status of Russian higher education. The study of various aspects of international students’ adaptation – psychological (resources) and sociocultural (expression) – was conducted on a group of 397 individuals, mainly from countries with Eastern culture, 247 men and 150 women. Among them, 110 were from distant countries, and 287 were from neighboring countries. We used an express diagnosis method developed based on an adapted version of the method “Self-assessment of psychological adaptability” by A.L. Svensitsky and the scales “Social commitment to the country” and “Cultural commitment to the country” from the questionnaire by S.V. Frolova. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used for statistical analysis of the obtained data. The psychological and sociocultural adaptation of respondents from both subgroups showed a similar correlation between adaptation resources and their expressions at p 0.01. At the same time, significant differences between the samples were found in the indicators. The students who came to study from distant countries (Asian and African countries) showed low psychological (active and communicative) potential for successful sociocultural adaptation, while they had high expectations for successful adaptation. Improving their adaptation potential through educational means can be achieved by combining academic work with problem-solving activities in the educational, vocational, social, and communication domains. Students from neighboring countries (former Soviet republics) based their claims of successful adaptation on the social ties between the countries but simultaneously showed a distance from Russian cultural values. In this case, the work of educators would be effective if they continued to develop positive dynamics for intercultural relations and incorporate the traditions of interethnic good neighborliness on the territory of the southern region of Russia.

Depersonalized data: the Russian approach in light of global practices

Data is an important business asset that can be valued and shared for different business purposes. Data about users of services, social platforms, marketplaces, and smart devices owners is used for a variety of purposes: analytics and service improvement, hypothesis testing, and new product development, partnerships, profiling and personalized advertising, machine learning, and the development of new technologies such as IoT. Data is not only used in the usual context of IT giants, but also in such economic sectors as agriculture and industry.1 The amount of data being produced is growing exponentially.2 The commercial turnover of information is expected to grow to an estimated $549 billion by 2028 for the Big Data market alone.3 At the same time, the use of data concerning a natural person falls under the human rights regime aiming to protect the fundamental right to privacy. That is why the data protection regulations historically attempted to reconcile the competing values of the free flow of data and individual’s privacy.4 Nowadays, the pervasive use of large volumes of information which include personal data makes this an even harder endeavour and creates new challenges for data protection legislation, since it is necessary to foster innovation based on the data economy and at the same time face the increasing threats to the privacy of individuals. In theory, de-identification5 which dilutes the link between data and individual can successfully reconcile these goals. For this reason, the processing of depersonalized data justly deserves more freedom than the processing of personal data. Depersonalization has become a widespread practice and in many cases is subject to regulation. However, there is an inverse relationship between the degree of data depersonalization and its value to business, as the more accurate and voluminous the data on people is, the more patterns can be drawn from it.

Russian Approaches to Regulating Use of Force in Cyberspace

Discussion in the United Nations on how international law applies to cyberspace has lasted more than two decades. Initially, the issue was raised by Russia and gained little attention by Western States; today, however, the question of state responsibility, applicability of humanitarian law and thresholds of intervention, use of force or armed attack have become a high priority for all digitalised States. Debate on the matter has, in many aspects, polarised and one of the divides occurs between Russia and Western States. This Chapter analyses the Russian approach to the applicability of international law to state behaviour in cyberspace from the perspective of Russian approaches to international law in general. In doing so, the Chapter aims to explain the sometimes-controversial positions taken by a State that is at once a world power, one of the most active cyber-actors and often in an adversarial position. Special focus is put on the Russian approach to use of force in the ICT environment.

Психологическое время личности пожилых людей: теоретический обзор

Introduction. With the global aging of society, the relevance of the problem of psychological time of the elderly is increasing. The lack of research in this scientific field, the lack of systematic knowledge in this matter increases the need to study it. The purpose of the article is to summarize research data on the problem of psychological time of the personality of elderly people, to highlight the dominant trends in domestic and foreign psychology on the stated problem. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was the works of psychological scientists, whose scientific interest lies not only in the plane of psychological time, but also in the late socialization of the elderly. The main research method is the theoretical analysis (meta-analysis) of the available scientific works in the world science, focused both on the construction of a scientific theory of psychological time, and on empirical studies of this phenomenon in older people. The result of the study is the identification of the main directions in the field of the research of the problem of psychological time of the elderly, as well as the detection of “white spots” and contradictions in the available data. A distinctive feature of the Russian approach to the psychological time of the elderly is the orientation to the clinical and psychological aspects, which make it possible to reveal the perceptual and cognitive sides of the designated problem to a greater extent. Foreign literature focuses on the cognitive components of psychological time: the time perspective of the future, subjective age, features of perception of the past. Contradictions in research positions on the issues of sustainability − plasticity of the subjective age of older people, the relationship between subjective age and well-being, between future time perspective and life satisfaction in the old age are revealed. The features of temporal focus in the elderly have not been practically studied. These contradictions serve as a starting point for further scientific research

KEPENTINGAN EKONOMI RUSIA DI ASIA TIMUR: HUBUNGAN EKONOMI DENGAN TIONGKOK

Russia is trying to get out of worrying about the world economy amid sanctions imposed by the West and its allies. This concern has implications for efforts to find new economic partners such as China. Historically, bilateral relations between Russia and China have been conflicting due to different interests. However, along with Western sanctions and worsening relations with the West, there is an impetus to strengthen relations between the two countries. Russia views China as an important partner in the economic field. This is based on the influence of China's significant economic power in recent decades. This is evidenced by the existence of various agreements and economic cooperation agreed upon by both parties. In addition, Russia's approach with China can be an opportunity to strengthen its influence in the Asian region, especially its closeness with Japan. This research focuses on Russia's economic interests to be achieved by looking at its closeness with China.

Problems of legal support of Russia’s food security in the light of the sanctions policy of unfriendly states

The Article analyses the problems of legal provision of food security in the Russian Federation. The United Nations Commission on Agriculture has developed food security criteria such as physical availability of food to the population, affordability and food safety. The Russian approach, unlike the above, has supplemented it with an indicator of state food independence. This approach proved to be far-sighted and proved correct in the context of the policy of sanctions by leading European states against the Russian Federation, including their reinforcement caused by the special military operation in the territories of Ukraine, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic. The author also points out the contradiction between the food security mechanism, which involves significant state support for agricultural producers, and the market mechanism for the sale of agricultural products. This led the author to conclude that the state should guarantee partial sales of agricultural products to Russian agricultural producers, thereby minimising the mechanism of bankruptcy for them due to stiff competition in the agricultural market.

Russia's Approaches to International Information Security

Russia's Approaches to International Information Security

Russia's Approaches to Problems on the Korean Peninsula

Russia's Approaches to Problems on the Korean Peninsula

The Russian Approach to the Permissibility of Examining Jurors in the Light of Foreign Law: Reflecting on the Arguments of the Russian Constitutional Court

Abstract This article examines the landmark Aliev case decided by the Russian Constitutional Court in 2020. In this case, the Constitutional Court was expected to determine whether jurors must be prohibited from testifying about the outside influence they were subjected to during deliberation. The paper discusses what is right and wrong with the Constitutional Court’s judgment and assesses the quality of its argumentation. The paper explores how the Constitutional Court’s approach compares and contrasts with other countries’ approaches and briefly outlines the structure of legislative reforms that need to be undertaken in Russia in the light of foreign experience. Overall, the author concludes that the integrity of jurors in Russia should be protected not by enabling jurors to testify at their discretion but by strengthening their legal immunity, which will strike an optimal balance between competing constitutional values.

Silence is golden? Silences as strategic narratives in Central Asian states' response to the Ukrainian crisis

AbstractIn this article, we argue that Central Asian (CA) states' approach to the Ukrainian crisis should be defined as strategic silence. Such foreign policy reflects how CA's ideological and geographic factors and a shared information space, largely dominated by Russian and Russian-language media, facilitate the understanding of historical continuity among Russian and CA leaders. However, we also demonstrate that CA public officials' and general public's uses of strategic silence reflect the complicated reality of CA states. Their leaders and populations are cognizant of both their dependence on educational and labor opportunities in Russia and their necessity for postwar coexistence with Russia, China, and other states that are not sympathetic to the intentions of the European Union/USA in CA. Therefore, strategic silence is an approach for CA states to voice their disagreement with Russia's approach to Ukraine while avoiding being victimized by Russia and its allies for an openly anti-war stance.

Runet's Critical Juncture: The Ukraine War and the Battle for the Soul of the Web

Today, the meaning and possibilities of the Russian internet stand at a critical juncture. So do those of the global internet. Understanding the Kremlin's evolving relationship with "Runet" (the Russian internet) and the networked communities it has fostered is essential to making sense of the regime's current turn to international belligerence and domestic repression. This article examines Russia's unique history as a digital authoritarian state to shed new light on recent developments and their significance for global internet freedom. It traces Russia's approach to internet control from the early days of relatively laissez-faire development to the current onslaught of wartime repression.

Nicholas I in Florence (1845). The Artistic Aspect of the Visit

The article analyzes the previously insufficiently researched art program of Nicholas I in Florence. That is – the study of the museum fund of Italian and European paintings, orders of art copies within the framework of the general state policy of copying similar to the policy of France and Italy, replenishment of the museum fund of St. Petersburg and Russia. Based on documents kept in domestic and foreign archives, modern literature of art historians in Russia and Italy, the author draws attention to the “pitfalls” of the classical art market in Italy, which the Russian monarch faced. His artistic preferences are also analyzed; his contribution to the formation of the museum fund of St. Petersburg and Russia is assessed. The features of the “Russian approach” to copying are revealed, which acquire relevance and practical significance during the pandemic crisis and modern technologies.

Suspicious Neighbour: Russia’s Role in the Quest for the EU’s Strategic Autonomy

The article explains the roots, the essence and the consequences of the Russian approach to the European Union’s idea of strategic autonomy. While the EU’s ambition is treated with a degree of hope for a more balanced world by the Russian academic community, the official attitude is clearly sceptical. Russian understanding of sovereignty leaves little place for such a specific actor as the EU. At the same time, Russia itself is struggling to ensure autonomy and equilibrium on the global level. In spite of the high scepticism with regard to the future of the strategic autonomy, its success would matter for Russia, especially in the field of economy and digitalization. The process of acquiring strategic autonomy would be, on the other hand, influenced by the perception of the Russian challenge. Attention is also paid to the transatlantic bond, which is interpreted very differently – with constant suspicion in Russia and as a helping tool in the West. The new stage of world politics is set in Asia, where the EU and Russia will struggle to ensure their positions in competition with more adapted actors. Overall, the EU’s strategic autonomy discussion is most important for countries that can in some way contribute to achieving it, which Russia is not. Russia, EU, NATO, Sovereignty, Autonomy, Transatlantic Dependency, Asia, Digitalization

The Role of NGOs in International Relations and Public Diplomacy

The paper examines Russia’s and the EU’s approaches to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as instruments of public diplomacy (PD). As the EU and Russia increasingly instrumentalize NGOs in their foreign policy, which seems to erode trust in their already burdened relations, the topic presents an opportunity to compare the mechanisms of government–NGO interaction in Russia and EU. The specifi c forms, roots, and aims of this phenomenon have often been overlooked in academic research. To these ends, the author looks into diff erent views and practices of Brussels and Moscow in terms of supporting and fi nancing NGOs in the sphere of public diplomacy. The study demonstrates that the EU’s approach is characterized by signifi cant funding of NGOs abroad as part of governmental public diplomacy eff orts. On the other hand, the Russian approach is mostly characterized by funding of national NGOs, which then implement public diplomacy projects aligned with government policies abroad.