The Russian connectionRussia sees U.S.-led international order as a threat to its security, interests: Report
Russia seeks to undermine elements of the current international order because its leaders and analysts see the current international order as dominated by the United States and a threat to their country’s security and interests, according to a new RAND report. U.S. officials have repeatedly described the development of a U.S.-led “rules-based international order,” composed of international economic institutions, bilateral and regional security organizations and liberal political norms, as a core U.S. national interest.
Russia seeks to undermine elements of the current international order because its leaders and analysts see the current international order as dominated by the United States and a threat to their country’s security and interests, according to a new RAND report.
U.S. officials have repeatedly described the development of a U.S.-led “rules-based international order,” composed of international economic institutions, bilateral and regional security organizations and liberal political norms, as a core national interest.
The report draws from analysis of Russian interests and views of the history of the post-Cold War period, during which Russia’s underlying foreign policy interests have remained relatively consistent, including preservation of the regime and of the country’s territorial integrity.
RAND notes thatthough Russia sought integration into Western institutions in the 1990s, this effort to more closely join the U.S.-led order was not successful in their view because the West would not sufficiently recognize Russia’s interests. Russia began to perceive the U.S.-led order as increasingly threatening following Western military operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Iraq, and due to perceived U.S. facilitation of “color” revolutions such as that which occurred in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, the researchers found.
“They see expanding U.S. control as having been achieved through regime change and disingenuous support for ‘liberal democracy,’” said Andrew Radin, lead author of the report and an associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization. “From a Russian perspective, the United States no longer has the power to back up this unilateral approach, and hence the current international order is not sustainable.”
At the same time, Russia sees the potential for cooperation and collaboration in some areas, such as support for the United Nations system, which it believes bolsters Russia’s position as a great power, active participation in major international economic institutions, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization, and cooperation in counterterrorism efforts.
