ABSTRACT
Parliament’s influence on Russian security policy towards the Baltic Sea area was multi-dimensional. In the “near abroad,” the Communists will focus on acceleration of the CIS integration including reunification with some post-Soviet republics, as well as its military dimensions. With the break-up of the Soviet Union and the re-emergence of the Russian Federation as an independent state Russia has had to redefine both its national interests and role in the post-Cold War international relations system. There are several determinants of Russian security policy in the area: interest groups, political parties, executive-legislative relationship and security discourse conducted by various schools of thought. Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic States as well as anti-Yeltsin political opposition put a pressure upon the Russian Government to make the latter more assertive regarding the human rights situation in Estonia and Latvia. Liberals opposed to Andrei Kozyrev’s “linkage tactics” regarding troop withdrawal and Russian national minorities in the Baltic States.
