ABSTRACT
Russia is often compared with a matryoshka doll. While studying different levels of political power in this country a student of Russia can discover several smaller “dolls” (regions, towns, counties) inside the bigger one (the federal government). What is important in this matryoshka-type of image is that lower-level actors may differ in their interests and policies from upper-level players. For example, while the ongoing transformation of the “Putin-2” regime may result in certain alienation from the West, Russia’s north-western regions and municipalities are, on the contrary, interested in expanding relations with their neighbours in order to cope with the current crisis situation and more generally with various challenges pertaining to glocalization. International contacts constitute an important resource for them not only in the sense of solving their problems but also in view of ascertaining their identities. Moreover, it is crucial for them to develop a network/horizontal type of external relations to be more independent in regard to the federal centre.
