ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the economic power as one of the key instruments of Russian foreign policy. It argues that although Russia’s economy is rather modest, Russia surpasses its main competitors in post-Soviet space, the European Union and the United States, in its ability to deliver economic benefits to its loyal neighbours. The chapter expresses that ‘strong’ states with medium-sized economies, which control the commanding heights of the economy via the predominant role of ‘national champion’ enterprises, can gain at least in the short run quite a lot in comparison with bigger economies operating within traditional liberal models. All of Russia’s foreign policy concepts since 2008 stipulate economic instruments as one of the key factors in contemporary world politics. Economic tools vary from country to country, and sometimes Russia has opted for simultaneous usage of several instruments from a box of sticks and a box of carrots. The common interest of all post-Soviet states is access to the Russian labour market.
