ABSTRACT
Some 20 years after the collapse of the USSR, Russia’s foreign policy, like its domestic policy, today remains profoundly marked by the fall of 1991. The men currently directing the country have a negative vision of their national history. They continue to view the extraordinary upheaval of Gorbachev’s reforms and the shattering of the empire as a considerable loss. 1991 was a “geopolitical catastrophe”, Vladimir Putin insists. This brutal break with the past has left profound traces both in the mindset and behavior of the political elite.
