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links with political power in Moscow. Perhaps to alleviate negative nationalist
associations, the Russian International Affairs Council suggests that the Russian
Orthodox Church should be positioned as a transnational institute rather than a
strictly national one. 58
2.9 Conclusions
At first glance, it might seem that the concept of soft power is an attractive and
rather innocent tool in a country’s foreign policy. As is demonstrated above,
however, it is an area full of pitfalls. Russia uses both hard and soft power to
exert influence. The Georgian War in 2008 showed that the use of military force
in Russia’s neighbourhood is never far away. This was shown again when
Crimea was annexed in 2014.
The use of Russian soft power seems likely to increase, at least if all the official
statements are to be believed. The political will is clearly there, the basic
governmental infrastructure is in place and there is potential for expansion too.
The mere fact of all the investment in miagkaia sila indicates that the Russian
political leadership has felt the lack of Russian soft power. The focus today is on
language, culture and anti-Americanism. This raises several questions over
seemingly contradictory policies and unclear definitions.
First, there is an internal contradiction between the Russian principle of nonintervention
in foreign relations and the use of soft power. This is also reflected
in the declared view that soft power is a double-edged sword. The attractive side
of soft power is recognized while at the same time the concept is seen as the
work of foreign intelligence services in Russia and hence a threat to national
security.
Second, both the notion of “compatriots” and the broader concept of the Russian
World lack clear definitions. This is not a new problem, but when it comes to
using soft power it can be complicated to get your message across if your
audience has not been identified.
Third, the sheer number of state organizations and semi-governmental NGO in
the sphere – often with the same or overlapping aims – makes a coordinated
policy very difficult. The division of labour in soft power efforts between the two
major agencies, Rossotrudnichestvo and Russkii mir, is not always clear.
Furthermore, soft power efforts are often undercut by other Kremlin actors.
During the so-called year of friendship between Russia and the Netherlands in
2013, the image of Russia took a negative turn in connection with an official
58 Russian International Affairs Council (2012): Postulates on Russia’s Foreign Policy, Report 4, 20
September, http://russiancouncil.ru/en/inner/id_4=838#top, p. 31.
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