ABSTRACT
The makers of Russia’s foreign policy mention, as one of their most important goals, the dismantlement of the current uni-polar order and its replacement with a system of cooperation between powers that will balance the USA’s domination that – from the Russia perspective – has a destabilizing influence on international relations. The Cold-War rivalry between the USSR and the USA left a clear mark on the Russia Federation’s relations with the USA – it formed their perception and created a deep rooted mistrust and distance.1 The fall of the USSR was seen by a considerable part of the American elite as a triumph of their state and system, proving the correctness of its worldview and the beginning of a long-lasting supremacy in the world – in the spheres of politics (liberal democracy), economy (economic liberalism) and culture (the so-called “American way”). However, for Russia the end of the USSR meant degradation in the international arena – its reputation suffered as it fell from being a superpower to a state in deep crisis, fearing further territorial disintegration. Not quite two years after the signing of the Belavezha Accords, not much remained in Russia of the initial enthusiasm and faith in the quick realization of the vision of a common space “from Vancouver to Vladivostok”. The United State’s triumphalism contrasted with the collapse that the Russian Federation experienced in the 1990s. The society greeted “Western exports” – democracy and the free market – with disappointment and together with it a dislike of the West began to grow, which once more began to be seen as “unfriendly” and “foreign”.
