Foreign policy of the Russian Empire Foreign relations of the Soviet Union Foreign policy of the Russian Federation ,
Gerhard Schröder,
Jacques Chirac and
Junichiro Koizumi during the
Victory Day Parade in Moscow, on 9 May 2005 In international affairs, Putin had made increasingly critical public statements regarding the
foreign policy of the United States and other Western countries. In February 2007, at the annual
Munich Conference on Security Policy, he criticized what he called the U.S. monopolistic dominance in global relations and claimed that the U.S. displayed an "almost unconstrained hyper use of force in international relations." He said the result of it is that "no one feels safe! Because no one can feel that
international law is like a stone wall that will protect them. Of course such a policy stimulates an arms race."
Joe Biden, 2021.
Benjamin Netanyahu, 2016. Putin proposed initiatives such as establishing international centers for the
enrichment of uranium and prevention of deploying
weapons in outer space.
2000-2006 Putin is often characterized as an
autocrat by the Western media and politicians. His relationship with former U.S. President
George W. Bush, former and current Brazilian President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez, former German
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, former French President
Jacques Chirac, and former Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi are reported to be personally friendly. Putin's relationship with Germany's former Chancellor,
Angela Merkel, is reported to be "cooler" and "more business-like" than his partnership with Gerhard Schröder, who accepted a job with a Russian-led consortium after leaving office. During the
Iraq disarmament crisis in 2002–2003, Putin opposed
Washington's move to invade Iraq, without the benefit of a
United Nations Security Council resolution explicitly authorizing the use of military force. After the official end of the war was announced, U.S. President
George W. Bush asked the
United Nations to lift
sanctions on Iraq. Putin supported lifting of the sanctions in due course, arguing that the UN commission first be given a chance to complete its work on the search for
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. During the
2004 Ukrainian presidential election, Putin twice visited Ukraine before the election to show his support for Ukrainian Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych, who was widely seen as a pro-Kremlin candidate, and he congratulated him on his anticipated victory before official election results had even been released. Putin's personal support for Yanukovych was criticized as unwarranted interference in the affairs of a sovereign state (
See also The Orange revolution). Crises also developed in Russia's relations with
Georgia and
Moldova, both former
Soviet republics accusing Moscow of supporting separatist entities in their territories (i.e.,
Abkhazia,
South Ossetia, and
Transnistria.) In 2005, Putin and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder negotiated the construction of a
major gas pipeline over the Baltic exclusively between Russia and Germany. Schröder also attended Putin's 53rd birthday celebration in
Saint Petersburg the same year. The end of 2006 brought strained
relations between Russia and Britain, in the wake of the death of
a former FSB officer in
London by poisoning. On July 20, 2007,
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown expelled "four Russian envoys over Putin's refusal to extradite ex-KGB agent
Andrei Lugovoi, wanted in the
UK for the murder of fellow former spy
Alexander Litvinenko in London." The
Russian constitution prohibits the extradition of
Russian nationals to third countries. British Foreign Secretary
David Miliband said that "this situation is not unique, and other countries have amended their constitutions, for example, to give effect to the
European Arrest Warrant." When Litvinenko was dying from radiation poisoning, he accused Putin of directing the assassination, in a statement which was released shortly after his death by his friend
Alex Goldfarb. Critics have doubted that Litvinenko is the true author of the released statement. When asked about the Litvinenko accusations, Putin said that a statement released posthumously of its author "naturally deserves no comment." The expulsions were seen as "the biggest rift since the countries expelled each other's diplomats in 1996 after a spying dispute." The
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), seen in Moscow as its traditional sphere of influence, became one of Putin's foreign policy priorities, as the EU and
NATO have grown to encompass much of Central Europe and, more recently, the
Baltic states. On April 26, 2007, in his
annual address to the Federal Assembly, Putin announced plans to declare a moratorium on the observance of the
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe by Russia until all
NATO members ratified it and started observing its provisions, as Russia had been doing on a unilateral basis. NATO members said they would refuse to ratify the treaty until Russia complied with its 1999 commitments made in Istanbul, whereby Russia should remove troops and military equipment from
Moldova and
Georgia. Russian Foreign Minister,
Sergey Lavrov, was quoted as saying in response that "Russia has long since fulfilled all its Istanbul obligations relevant to CFE." On December 11, 2007, Russia suspended its participation in the
CFE. On December 12, 2007, the United States officially stated that it "deeply regretted the Russian Federation's decision to 'suspend' implementation of its obligations under the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE)."
State Department spokesman
Sean McCormack added in a written statement that "Russia's conventional forces are the largest on the
European continent, and its unilateral action damages this successful
arms control regime." NATO's primary concern arising from Russia's suspension is that Moscow could now accelerate its military presence in the
Northern Caucasus. The months following Putin's
Munich speech This was interpreted by some Russian and Western commentators as comparing the United States to
Nazi Germany. In 2007, on the eve of the
33rd Summit of the G8 in
Heiligendamm, Germany, U.S. journalist
Anne Applebaum, who is married to a Polish politician, wrote that "Whether by waging
cyberwarfare on Estonia, threatening the gas supplies of Lithuania, or boycotting
Georgian wine and Polish meat, [Putin] has, over the past few years, made it clear that he intends to reassert Russian influence in the former communist states of Europe, whether those states want Russian influence or not. At the same time, he has also made it clear that he no longer sees
Western nations as mere benign trading partners, but rather as
Cold War-style threats." Adi Ignatius argues that "Putin... is not a
Stalin. There are no mass purges in Russia today, no broad climate of terror. But Putin is reconstituting a strong state, and anyone who stands in his way will pay for it." Both Russian and U.S. officials consistently denied the idea of a
new Cold War. At the Munich Conference, U.S. Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates said, "We all face many common problems and challenges that must be addressed in partnership with other countries, including Russia.... one Cold War was quite enough." In June 2007, just prior to the 33rd G8 Summit, Vladimir Putin said, "We do not want confrontation; we want to engage in dialogue. However, we want a dialogue that acknowledges the equality of both parties' interests." On June 7, 2007, Putin, publicly opposed to a
U.S. missile shield in Europe, presented President
George W. Bush with a counterproposal of sharing the use of the Soviet-era radar system in
Azerbaijan, rather than building a new system in
Poland and the
Czech Republic. Putin expressed readiness to modernize the
Gabala radar station, which has been in operation since 1986. Putin proposed it would not be necessary to place interceptor missiles in Poland then, but interceptors could be placed in NATO member
Turkey or
Iraq. Putin suggested equal involvement of interested European countries in the project. In June 2007, in an interview with journalists of
G8 countries, when answering the question of whether
Russian nuclear forces may be focused on European targets in case "the United States continues building a strategic shield in Poland and the Czech Republic," Putin admitted that "if part of the
United States' nuclear capability is situated in Europe and that our military experts consider that they represent a potential threat then we will have to take appropriate retaliatory steps. What steps? Of course we must have new targets in Europe." and
CSTO members Following the 2007 Peace Mission military exercises jointly conducted by the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states, Putin announced in August 2007 that the resumption on a permanent basis of long-distance patrol flights of Russia's strategic bombers that were suspended in 1992. The announcement made during the SCO summit in the light of joint Russian-Chinese military exercises, first-ever in history to be held on Russian territory, makes some believe that Putin is inclined to set up an anti-
NATO bloc, or the
Asian version of
OPEC. When presented with the suggestion that "Western observers are already likening the SCO to a military organisation that would stand in opposition to NATO," Putin answered that "this kind of comparison is inappropriate in both form and substance." The sortie was to be backed up by 47 aircraft, including strategic bombers. According to Serdyukov, this is an effort to resume regular
Russian naval patrols on the world's oceans, the view that is also supported by
Russian media. The military analyst from
Novaya Gazeta Pavel Felgenhauer believes that the accident-prone
Kuznetsov is scarcely seaworthy, and is more of a menace to her crew than any putative enemy. In September 2007, Putin visited Indonesia, and in doing so, became the first Russian leader to visit the country in more than 50 years. In the same month, Putin also attended the
APEC meeting held in Sydney, Australia, where he met with Australian Prime Minister
John Howard, and signed a uranium trade deal. This was the first visit of a Russian president to Australia. In October 2007, Putin visited
Tehran, Iran to participate in the Second Caspian Summit, where he met with Iranian leader
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Other participants were leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. This is the first visit of a leader from the Kremlin to Iran, since
Joseph Stalin's participation in the
Tehran Conference in 1943. At a press conference after the summit, Putin stated that "all our (Caspian) states have the right to develop their peaceful nuclear programmes without any restrictions." During the summit, it was also agreed that its participants, under no circumstances, would let any third-party state use their territory as a base for aggression or military action against any other participant. This newly proposed institution is expected to monitor human rights violations in Europe and contribute to the development of European democracy. Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President
George W. Bush failed to resolve their differences over U.S. plans for a missile defense system based in
Poland and the
Czech Republic, in their meeting in the Russian
Black Sea resort of
Sochi in April 2008. Putin made clear that he did not agree with the decision to establish sites in the
Eastern European countries. However, he said that the two had agreed to a "strategic framework" to guide future
U.S.-Russian relations, in which the two countries recognized that the era in which each had considered the other to be a "strategic threat or enemy" was over. Putin expressed cautious optimism that the two sides could find a way to cooperate over missile defense and described his eight-year relationship with President Bush as "mostly positive." The Sochi summit was the Bush's last meeting with Putin as a sitting president, following both leaders' attendance at the
NATO summit in
Romania earlier that month. That summit also highlighted differences between Washington and Moscow, over U.S.-backed proposals to extend the military alliance to include the
former Soviet republics of
Ukraine and
Georgia. Russia opposes the proposed expansion, fearing it will reduce its own influence over its neighbours. Hungarian-American geostrategist
George Friedman countered that both the war and Russian foreign policy have been successful in expanding Russia's influence.
2010-2016 The mid-2010s marked a dramatic downturn in Russian relations with the West, with some even considering it the start of a new Cold War. The United States and Russia supported opposing sides in the
Syrian Civil War, and Washington regarded Moscow as obstructionist in its support for the
Bashar al-Assad regime. In 2013, for the first time since 1960, the United States cancelled a summit with Russia, after the latter granted asylum to
Edward Snowden. However, the greatest increase in tensions ensued from the Ukraine crisis that began in 2014, which saw the
Russian annexation of Crimea. Russia also inflamed
a separatist uprising in the
Donbas region. The United States responded to these events by imposing sanctions on Russia, with most European countries following suit due to concerns over Russian interference in the affairs of Central and Eastern Europe. In October 2015, after years of supporting the Syrian government indirectly,
Russia directly intervened in the conflict, turning the tide in favor of the
Assad regime. Already strained over Russian support for Assad,
Russian-Turkish relations deteriorated even further, especially after the
Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian jet fighter in November 2015. In 2015, Russia also formed the
Eurasian Economic Union with Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. , Chinese leader
Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and other leaders at the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan on 16 September 2022 The Russian government disapproves the
expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe, claiming that Western leaders promised that NATO would not expand beyond its 1990s borders.
2017-2022 ." Countries and territories on the list imposed
sanctions on Russia following the
Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. For decades, the dispute between Japan and Russia over the ownership of the
Kuril Islands has hindered closer cooperation between the two countries. However, since 2017, high-level talks involving Prime Minister
Shinzō Abe have been ongoing in an attempt to resolve the situation. Russia's power on the international stage depends in large part on its revenue from
fossil fuel exports. If the world completes a
transition to renewable energy, and international demand for Russian
raw materials resources is dramatically reduced, so may Russia's international power be. Although Russian
oil and
gas exports receive more attention, the country is also one of the world's three largest
coal exporters and this industry is important for some Russian towns and provinces. Russia is ranked 148 out of 156 countries in the index of Geopolitical Gains and Losses after
energy transition (GeGaLo). Russia lacks strong alliances. The
Collective Security Treaty Organization is an attempt to develop a successor alliance to the
Warsaw Pact but it is comparatively weak. Russia attempted to solidify its alliances in Africa, Asia, and South America. Historically, the former Soviet Union and later the Russian Federation had good relations with modern states in those regions, being on the side of oppressed populations, such as during
Apartheid in
South Africa, and opposing imperialism worldwide. Later in 2022, many African and South American countries abstained from voting against Russia in the
UN Security Council for its military involvements in Ukraine. Russia's influence in Africa and South America is expanding, particularly in the areas of
mining and
security services. Most African and South American countries have a keen interest in cheap fossil energy and have no sanctions in place against Russian entities. in Kazan, Russia, 23 October 2024 In 2023, Russia unveiled a
Eurasianist,
anti-Western foreign policy strategy in a document titled
The Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation approved by
Vladimir Putin. The document defines Russia as a "unique country-civilization and a vast
Eurasian and Euro-Pacific power" that seeks to create a "
Greater Eurasian Partnership" by pursuing close relations with China, India, countries of the
Islamic World and the rest of the
Global South (
Latin America and
Southern Africa.) The policy identifies the
United States and other
English-speaking countries as "the main inspirer, organizer and executor of the aggressive
anti-Russian policy of the collective West" and seeks the end of
U.S. dominance in the international scene. The document also adopts a
neo-Soviet posture, positioning Russia as the successor state of USSR and calling for the spread of "accurate information" regarding the "decisive contribution of the Soviet Union" in shaping the
post-WWII international order and the
United Nations. In 2024,
Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso reached an agreement with Russia to obtain telecom and surveillance satellites, aiming to strengthen border security and improve communications. These West African nations, facing ongoing
Islamist insurgencies, sought Russian support after tensions with Western allies. This move came shortly after an Islamist militants
attack on an airport in Mali, highlighting the region's unstable security situation. In Africa, Russia uses
anti-French and
anti-Western propaganda through clandestine agencies. In response to widespread
sanctions and military support for Ukraine, Russia has been accused of waging a
campaign of hybrid warfare across the continent. This includes confirmed and suspected acts of sabotage, espionage, and influence operations intended to weaken European resolve and infrastructure. == Diplomatic relations ==