ABSTRACT
While Russia’s policies toward the four selected countries (like those of the EU) have signifi cantly evolved over the past two decades, the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have consistently ranked high up the list of Russian foreign policy priorities, as illustrated by the successive foreign policy concepts of the Russian Federation. As indicated in the 2000 foreign policy concept, bilateral and multilateral co-operation with CIS countries is key to achieving the security objectives of the Russian Federation, in particular with the view to ‘forming a good-neighbour belt along the perimeter of Russia’s borders, to promoting the elimination of the existing, and preventing the emergence of potential hotbeds of tension and confl icts in regions adjacent to the Russian Federation’ (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation 2000). Interestingly, Russia’s narrative on the objectives pursued in its neighbourhood is largely similar (both in wording and substance) to the discourse developed by the EU a few years later, upon the launch of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The EU’s ambition to create a ‘ring of friends’ with the ENP (Prodi 2002) echoes the formation of a ‘good-neighbour belt’ around Russia. Likewise, both actors prioritise stability and security as their overarching objectives in adjacent areas.
