An analyst from the think tank International Crisis Group on Tuesday believed that the new draft of Russian foreign policy, released on March 31, shows that confrontation with the West could extend beyond Ukraine.
In an analysis published today by the Brussels-based think tank, Oleg Ignatov opined that the document released by Russia’s head of diplomacy, Serguei Lavrov, “spoken aloud all the silent parts” of what the Moscow speech is been.
Ignatov argued that “the growing enmity against Washington and the hope that countries not aligned with the West would join Russia in fighting the United States – is now written in black and white”.
“Realistically or not, the new concept of Russia is intended to convey that Moscow expects to continue the confrontation with the West in the long run, and not just in Ukraine,” the senior Russian affairs analyst concluded.
In the new foreign policy draft, released on the eve of Russia assuming the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, Moscow declared the United States and the West as the source of threats to the country’s very existence.
Lavrov stated at the time that the United States was “the main instigator and leader of the anti-Russian line”.
Ignatov believed that Russia is determined to attract other countries to contest with the West, albeit without defining the details of President Vladimir Putin’s strategy.
“A lack of definition can bode badly for your plans,” said Ignatov.
The analyst qualified the new concept as worrying, “mainly because of the damage that the Russian state can do when it tries to put into practice the words of the Kremlin,” according to the Russian presidency.
He therefore argued that both Moscow’s designated adversaries in the West and those it hopes to engage must be prepared for more disinformation and more covert activity.
They should “expect increased efforts to take advantage of any opportunities that arise to advance Moscow’s agenda,” the analyst continued.
According to Ignatov, the new concept defines the goal of “depriving the West of the ability to continue” with the aim of questioning Russia’s existence.
“This position represents a break with the past,” he defended, referring to the fact that the earlier Russian political documents “talked about building a common security space with European countries.”
“For Westerners who have long argued that Russia is determined to undermine the Western-led world order, the new language of this concept provides new and compelling evidence of Moscow’s intentions,” he said.
Ignatov also believed that the new concept has flaws that “perhaps reflect the still nascent nature of Russia’s evolving approach to international relations”.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Putin’s desire to exude strength and confidence, the document ignores Russia’s real military and economic challenges, including the financial, political and military damage caused by its decision to invade Ukraine,” he noted. .
The document also says nothing “about Moscow’s corresponding loss of influence at the global and local level,” said the International Crisis Group analyst.
In the new document, Moscow privileges Eurasia but fails to recognize that the countries closest to Russia’s border “appear increasingly to view the Kremlin as dangerous and unreliable,” he wrote.
The analyst also believed that the document “represents a radical departure” from the previous foreign policy draft, from 2016.
“It reaffirms what many analysts have long regarded as the ambition underlying Moscow’s worldview, by setting out overarching goals for its role as a Eurasian power,” he argued.
Source: DN
