ABSTRACT
In assessing the evolution of Russian foreign policy it is important to chart the transition from a defensive and accommodating approach, founded on Russia’s weakness at the beginning of Putin’s presidency, to a more confident and assertive stance since 2004, when Russia got economically stronger. As the subject of the book is Russia’s European agenda, this analysis tends to confine itself to the European context. However, the Russian-European relationship has a very strong US dimension (the United States is deeply involved in many Europe-based issues), which has been taken into account.
