ABSTRACT
Russia was a great power until 1989, and Vladimir Putin wants to make it a great power again. Nikolai Patrushev has accompanied Putin on various diplomatic missions and handed President Obama personal letters from the Russian president. The current foreign policy leader of the European Union, Federica Mogherini, has also called for closer relations with Russia. The inclination of Russian policy experts in the West to consider Putin's role in decision-making as decisive seem to be correct. As the Soviet Union disintegrated, there was bound to be an ideological vacuum. It was relatively easy to reintegrate the Orthodox Church into the new Russian ideology. To flaunt anti-Semitism had certain advantages, first of all the fact that it was almost legal; it had been preached by official communist party organs for a long time under the name of anti-Zionism. The strategic importance of Central Asia has changed over time and remains a matter of controversy.
