Strategic Assessment

Starting in the second half of the 1990s, the prevailing view among top Russian policymakers never denied the existence of common interests among Russia and the West, such as the struggle against international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and never included a vision of Russia as a country hostile to the Western alliance. However, since Russia does not belong to this camp, it has developed a feeling of severe unease with respect to the dominance of the US and its allies in the global theater. This is based on the belief that in a number of regions, especially in the sphere of the independent states that belonged to the former Soviet Union, Western goals and the Russian interest diverge significantly.