beyondukraine.euandrussiainsearchofanewrelation

16 Beyond Ukraine. EU and Russia in Search of a New Relation
these phenomena are concealed. As Andrei Kortunov, the General
Director of the Russian International Affairs Council, points out,
“for Russia traditionally the term ‘soft power’ has had more bad
connotations than good. For example, many see soft power as the
West’s attempts to undermine Russian interests in various regions
of the world by organizing ‘color revolutions’” 2 . Hence the wave
of anti-government demonstrations in December 2011 and March
2012 in St. Petersburg and Bolotnaya Square in Moscow in
response to electoral fraud in the parliamentary elections and the
announcement of Putin’s return to the Kremlin, could be
interpreted by the Russian leader only as a challenge in both the
internal and external dimensions.
From the Russian perspective therefore, the past fifteen years
are nothing but a succession of Western interferences in the
Eurasian space and contempt for Russia’s attempts to seek a
mutually satisfactory accommodation with the EU and NATO.
Moscow’s profound irritation is rooted in the perception that the
West ignores its role as hegemonic regional power in the post-
Soviet space. And, above all, the Kremlin is convinced that the
West is implementing a strategy of regime change with
geopolitical objectives that ultimately seek to usurp and break
Russian power. These perceptions have led to the gradual
hardening of Putin’s regime both inward and outward. Since Putin
has been in charge, the Russian narrative is about restoration of
power not emergence.
The Charter of the United Nations states the principle of
“sovereign equality of all its members”, a principle endorsed by
Russia. But when Moscow appeals to the “principle of security
indivisibility”, the implicit demand is the distinct recognition of its
right to supervise and control its former Soviet neighbours as
Russia’s “natural area of influence”. This use of the notion of
‘natural’, applied to the post-Soviet space as a ground for self-
2 Russia Direct “For Russia, soft power doesn’t have to mean being a softy”,
interview with Andrei Kortunov and Marina Lebedeva, 17 March 2014,
http://www.russia-direct.org/qa/russia-soft-power-doesn%E2%80%99t-havemean-being-softy.