This week, Tatyana Stanovaya writes for Carnegie Moscow Center about Putin’s three kinds of foreign policy advisors: warriors, merchants, and pious believers. Also, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan write in Foreign Affairs about the Kremlin’s success in pressuring online companies to grant access to user data.
Presidential aide Sergei Glazyev, seen above with Putin at a meeting in Minsk on October 10, 2014, is among the "warriors" on Putin's team of foreign policy advisors, according to political analyst Tatyana Stanovaya. Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Warriors vs. Merchants: Russia’s Foreign Policy Battle
Tatyana Stanovaya, Carnegie Moscow Center
Stanovaya argues that Putin’s policy advisors fall into three different categories: the “warriors,” “merchants,” and the “pious believers.” While all three groups support their president, they envision disparate directions for Russia’s foreign policy. For how long will Putin be able to sustain the balance between competing factions within his inner circle?
Why the Realists Were Wrong about Ukraine
Alexander Motyl, Atlantic Council
Many realists attempt to explain Russia’s intervention in Ukraine as a response to EU and NATO expansion. But if this were the case, NATO’s increased military presence in Eastern Europe should prompt the opposite reaction as the ceasefire that is largely holding in Ukraine. Putin’s actions should be examined through a different lens, says Motyl.
Putin Trolls Facebook
Andrei Soldatov & Irina Borogan, Foreign Affairs
Since the Russian state has largely taken over television and print media, the Internet has served as the last bastion for free speech in Russia. Now, it seems that the most popular online platforms — in particular, Facebook, Google, and Twitter — may no longer be able to provide privacy and security to their users in Russia. Incredibly, the online companies’ cooperation with the Kremlin may even make people outside Russia vulnerable to snooping by Russia’s security services.
Putin’s Forever Wars
Masha Gessen, The New York Times
Gessen examines Putin’s statements at the recent Valdai gathering in Sochi, arguing that most of the reasons the Kremlin gives to justify the wars in Ukraine and Syria are mere “pretexts.” In fact, Russia can only feel secure in a perpetual state of war, Gessen says.
At the Edge of Hell
Daniil Turovsky, Meduza
The Kremlin is careful not to engage its military fully in Syria by restricting its campaign mostly to air strikes. Russian state media is likewise superficial in its coverage of the conflict. Meduza special correspondent Daniil Turovsky became the first Russian journalist to visit territory held by Islamic State, venturing to the Turkish-Syrian border to get a glimpse of the situation on the ground.
