ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Russian Federation's relationship with the OSCE, an organization where Russia enjoys full membership. Beginning with an introduction to Russia's policy development, and how it has been affecting its relations with both neighboring republics and the OSCE, the chapter suggests the linkage between domestic and foreign policy-making in Russia. Russia sees the OSCE as the primary instrument where it can better pursue its aims of minimizing the role of outsiders in the former Soviet area, in particular that of NATO members acting through the OSCE or the UN. The analysis in this chapter allows people to conclude that Russian relations towards the OSCE are, and will probably remain, both competitive and cooperative according to Russian interests. A summary of the OSCE activities is a tool for simplifying the understanding of the broad range of the organization's activities in the former Soviet space, and to understand how, in many instances, they interconnect.
