Good Cop or Bad Cop? Russian Foreign Policy in the New Putin Era

On January 25, the Transatlantic Academy published a policy brief by Volkwagen Foundation Visiting Fellow Andras Racz. The brief argues that in the post-Soviet region Russia’s foreign policy will continue to focus on maintaining and increasing the formal and informal influence of the Russian Federation, only with growing intensity. Concerning the West, Russian interests are likely to become increasingly divergent. Deepening and widening the cooperation with the EU is clearly in the interest of the Russian Federation. On the other hand, existing tensions in the U.S.-Russia relationship are unlikely to decrease, while a key field of common interest is going to disappear following the Allied withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014.