RUSSIAN STUDIES

Dr Yuri D. Kvashnin, PhD in History, Head of the European Union Studies Department, IMEMO RAN, RIAC expert

Dr Vladimir A. Olenchenko, PhD in Law, Senior Research Fellow, IMEMO RAN, RIAC expert

Dr. John M Nomikos, Director, Research Institute for European and American Studies (Athens)

George Protopapas, Media Analyst, Research Institute for European and American Studies (Athens)

Copyright: http://russiancouncil.ru  (Publication Date on: 24 May 2014)


The partnership between Russia and Greece is a unique case of international relations, in that Russia and Greece have no serious mutual claims that might impede further development or enhancement of their cooperation. Nor are there any permanent irritant factors hindering initiatives on either side. Even so, despite the historical and cultural proximity of the two countries, for the last few years Russian-Greek relations have stagnated and have lost significance, in part due to the abandonment of the Burgas-Alexandroupoli oil pipeline project and the suspension of military and technical cooperation between the two countries. The 2009 Greek debt crisis also relegated Greek-Russian ties to the background, focusing the government’s efforts on economic recovery...  Read more..... Read more

Anis H. Bajrektarevic
(Professor in international law and global political studies, based in Austria. His recent book Is There Life after Facebook? is published by the New York’s Addleton Academic Publishers. He was born in Sarajevo, place from which the Eastern effectively challenged Central Europe)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication Date: 03/08/2014

On 28th July exactly 100 years ago, Central Europe declared a war to Eastern Europe, an event that marked the official outbreak of World War I. This was a turning point which finally fractured a fragile equilibrium of La Belle Èpoque, and set the Old Continent and the whole world with it into the series of motions that lasted for almost a century, before docking us to our post-modern societies. From WWI to www. Too smooth and too good to be true? Let us use this occasion and briefly examine our post-modernity and some fallacies surrounding it....Read more

Vladimir Olenchenko
(PhD in Law, Senior Research Fellow, IMEMO RAN, RIAC expert)

Yuri Kvashnin
(PhD in History, Head of the European Union Studies Department, IMEMO RAN, RIAC expert)

Copyright: http://russiancouncil.ru (Date of Publication: 2 March 2014)

Historical Preview

Russian-Greek bilateral relations have deep historical roots. From the 18th centuryonwards, as a constituent region in the Ottoman Empire, and as an independent state since 1830, Greece has had particular geostrategic significance for Russia. Due to its geographic situation Greece for protracted periods acted as a pro-Russian and Orthodox mainstay in the Balkans (alongside Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro). Greece’s independence is to a great extent predicated on the active support – economic, diplomatic and military – that Russia rendered to that country’s national-liberation movement. At the same time, due to the significant political influence exerted on Greece by two other powers that also acted as patrons, namely Great Britain and France, relations between Russia and Greece in the 19th century did not develop smoothly. In the final decades of the Russian Empire, Slavic states such as Serbia, Montenegro and, to a certain extent, Bulgaria were among Russia’s top diplomatic priorities in the Balkans....Read more

Ioannis Chatzopoulos
(Political Scientist, MA University of Warwick, Editor -in -Chief of Nea Politiki monthly review)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

‘‘Perhaps no part of Europe has suffered more from the old pattern of geopolitics then the Baltic states...and no part of Europe will benefit more if we are successful in overcoming these old patterns and replace them with new habits of cooperation’’ (Madeleine Allbright, Former U.S. Secretary of State, 1997)

The geopolitical importance of the Baltic States

The geopolitical interpretation of the Baltic states position in the international system shows that their position is rather complicated. The Baltic states are located in the region which is circumvented by the main geopolitical collisions. At the same time East-Baltic sub-region is a place where a fundamental confrontation of global powers is feasible. Therefore, the East-Baltic subregion is a ‘theatre’ both for maritime and continental powers.

Marina Aristova
(Postgraduate Researcher, University of Indianapolis (Athens Campus)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

Background and Reasons to Reset US-Russia Relations

In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a new foreign policy strategy regarding Russia: the relations of reset. President Obama’s initiative was preceded by years of serious disagreements and disputes over missile defense, NATO membership enlargement, post-Soviet space, and the war in Georgia. President Obama sought to engage the Russian government to pursue foreign policy goals of common interest—win-win outcomes—for the American and Russian people (http://goo.gl/6u6I). Though both countries overcame virtually everything that defined their Cold War confrontation, the United States and Russia were not able to develop sustainable cooperative bilateral relations (Allison et al. 2). In August 2008, the Russia-US relationship reached its highest level of post-Cold War tension. The military conflict between Russia and Georgia in August 2008, in which the U.S. supported Georgia, has been described as ‘a post-cold war nadir for US-Russian relations’ (Mankoff, 109). Consequently, President Obama’s initiative was a necessary and essential step to improve bilateral relations, achieve a sustainable cooperative relationship, and overcome the legacy of suspicion and distrust. Also, both countries faced the threat of international terrorism, global economic crisis and other challenges of the 21 century.

Darya Bazarkina
(Lecturer, Communication Management Specialization, Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University)

Copyright: www.rieas.gr

Today the important role of information and communication in the provision of national and international security is recognized at a global level. Unfortunately, the terrorists today are often more efficient at controlling the behavior of public by means of communication than are state security forces. Thus, to successfully counter terrorism, it is necessary to understand the motives of new recruits’ joining terrorist organizations, which requires not only an analysis of the economic basis of terrorism, but also a research of the ideology and communication aspects of terrorist activities.