Russia has recently begun to behave quite differently as a "regional power" and is actively working even with those countries where its influence was previously practically zero, writes The Wall Street Journal. According to the article, Moscow is acting in such a way as to undermine the US-led international order and rewrite the rules of international politics in its favor.
Vladimir Putin's Russia goes global: from Libya to the Balkans to South Africa, the Kremlin is working to destroy the US-led international order, wrote the director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in an article for The Wall Street Journal. »Eugene Rumer and Foundation Vice President Andrew Weiss.
Former US President Barack Obama once called post-Soviet Russia a simple "regional power", but this is not the case at present, the article notes. In recent years, Vladimir Putin has reached the global level, starting to actively use the diplomacy of smiles and personal charm in those countries where Moscow's influence was practically nil.
Russia's presence can be seen in most of the Middle East, Europe, parts of Africa and even Latin America, the article points out. Moscow has found many open opportunities and is actively using the split in the western camp.
"The program is clear and understandable: to strengthen the influence of Russia at the expense of Washington and at the expense of the rules-based international system that the United States has built and led since the Second World War," the authors are convinced.
Moscow's tools include undermining democratic governance, fomenting ethnic and religious tensions, and building outposts to gather intelligence and project its military power. Russia willingly climbed into where the United States and its partners either gave up their positions or failed to do anything.
At the same time, according to the authors, the essence of the current renewed activity of Moscow is not to dictate certain conditions in certain corners of the world, but to undermine and destroy the US-led international order, in which the norms of economic openness and democratic accountability operate. and the rule of law. Moscow seeks to distance as many international players as possible from the structures and security measures that Washington has worked hard to create for generations.
“Mr. Putin is betting that he will be able to rewrite the rules of international politics in his favor. American leaders and strategists need to show him that he is wrong,”Eugene Rumer and Andrew Weiss summarize in an article for The Wall Street Journal.
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