The Foreign Policy of Russia

This text traces the lineage and development of Russian foreign policy with the insight that comes from a historical perspective. Now fully updated, the sixth edition incorporates new coverage of issues including relations with the major powers and with other post-communist states, with an emphasis on tensions with the U.S. and engagement with Ukraine, Crimea, and Syria. International security issues including arms control, sanctions, and intervention continue to grow in importance. Domestic and regional issues related to natural resource politics, human rights, Islamism and terrorism also persist. Chronologically organized chapters highlight the continuities of Russia’s behavior in the world since tsarist times as well as the major sources of change and variability over the revolutionary period, wartime alliances and Cold War, détente, the Soviet collapse, and the first post-communist decades. The basic framework used in the book is a modified realism that stresses the balance of power and the importance of national interest, and identifies several factors (both internal and external) that condition Russian policy. The interpretations are original and based on a mix of primary and secondary sources.

New to the Sixth Edition



Thoroughly updated coverage of Russia’s bilateral relations with the United States and countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Discussion of how Moscow employs Russia’s "soft power" assets.

Russian-American relations, especially with respect to interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and to U.S. foreign policy concerns in North Korea, Iran, and Syria.

Russia’s interference in recent and upcoming elections in European states, which (along with the Brexit vote) threaten to jeopardize the future of the European Union.

The full unfolding of the Ukraine crisis.

Vladimir Putin’s continuing campaign to command greater Western respect for Russia’s interests and capabilities.

Significant new developments in the Middle East including the nuclear deal with Iran, the involvement in the Syrian civil war, and the first-ever production-control deal with OPEC.

A new concluding chapter: "Russia and the United States: A New Cold War?"

An Epilogue on the July 2018 Trump-Putin Summit and surrounding events.