International Affairs No. 4, 2017 – Table of Contents

THE GREATER EURASIAN PARTNERSHIP (GEP) initiative, which is being put into effect before our very eyes, has become a subject of scholarly and public polemics, but most importantly, there is an obvious desire to understand challenges and opportunities that it involves.

Mutually opposite points of view were expressed. Here is one of them, sharply polemical: “It would be the most absurd of mistakes to want to promote in Asia-Pacific a monster that was born in the depths of government and expert offices in response to the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership] – the Greater Eurasian Economic Partnership initiative. Unlike the TPP or RCEP [Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership], this geoeconomic chimera has no clear shape. Asian and European diplomats say ironically that so far no one in Moscow has been able to name at least three concrete mechanisms that this partnership would involve or three reasons for any country to join it.”² …

THE REGIME for conventional arms control in Europe, established in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War, was for those years a unique set of measures and was seen as a model suitable for other parts of the world as well. However, destructive activities by NATO member countries over the past two decades have eroded it and threaten to ruin it completely if these activities are not stopped. The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), which was considered the cornerstone of this regime, is practically dead.

The ongoing enlargement of NATO, which has moved its armed forces, including heavy weapons, right up to Russian borders, and the United States’ deployment of the European segment of its global missile defense have upset the military balance in Europe established by CFE, while the refusal of all its Western signatories to ratify the Adapted CFE of 1999 – Russia ratified it back in 2004 – effectively meant their unilateral withdrawal from the treaty. Therefore, Western appeals for Russia to comply with what is an obsolete accord sound cynical and hypocritical. …

THE HEINOUS ACTS OF TERROR in the first few months of the current year, indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, persecution of whole communities (particularly on the grounds of religion or belief), metro bombings, and terrorist attacks against major European cities continue to shock and horrify. Is it possible to take effective action against such atrocities? What can be done to prevent the assassination of an ambassador or a grenade launcher attack on a consulate general?* How can we enable people to travel by public transport, attend public events, and meet with friends in cafés and restaurants without fearing for their lives or for the lives of their children, friends and relatives?

FOR THE FIRST TIME, thirty-five states participating in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) declared their common resolve to “refrain from direct or indirect assistance to terrorist activities” in the Helsinki Final Act (Principle VI),¹ signed by the heads of state and government of European countries, the United States and Canada in 1975. …

THIS YEAR, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has marked two jubilees – the 25th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 15th anniversary of the organization itself. The CSTO is an effective mechanism that not only guarantees security to the organization’s member countries but also plays a serious role in maintaining peace and stability in its region. The CSTO member states have developed close mutual relations that enable them to take effective joint action to defuse international tensions, prevent instability in individual regions, and stop existing conflicts from escalating.

Former Soviet republics embarked on mutual political and military integration at the end of the 20th century, after the demise of the European security system that was based on the results of World War II. NATO. which openly considered military force a potential means of attaining its international objectives, was playing a major and increasing role in European affairs. Simultaneously, there were doubts about everyone’s compliance with many of the fundamental agreements on arms control and disarmament. …

THE ONE BELT, ONE ROAD (OBOR) initiative is the most wide-ranging public project that China has proposed to the global community so far. Since 2013, when the initiative was put forward, it has been joined by more than 100 countries and international organizations, with over 40 states signing cooperation agreements with China. China’s aggregate trade with countries along the OBOR line has totaled $3.1 trillion. Chinese corporate investment in these countries has exceeded $49.3 billion. Fifty-six trade and economic cooperation zones have been created in 20 countries with an accumulated investment of $17.9 billion, which has generated $960 million in tax revenues and 163,000 jobs for the host countries, stimulated economic development, and benefited the global economy.

The OBOR initiative is so widely welcomed because it is built on the concept of tolerance and openness, including joint discussion, joint construction and joint use of results. China does not think in terms of domination or cultural superiority, does not position itself in that role, and does not impose its will, development path, social order or ideology on other countries. On the contrary, it acts as an equal partner, contributes sufficient trade, investment and technological resources to mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries and seeks common benefit. …

IN RUSSIA, there are 84 million users of the Internet. According to recent surveys by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), nearly half the citizens of Russia believe that their life wouldn’t be any different if they didn’t use the Internet at all. One wonders if these feelings are the result of wide-scale information about global cyber threats and about violations of the rights of consumers.

Experts say that a personal profile on Facebook costs about $20. In March, the U.S. Congress approved legislation that would allow the sale of information about users without their consent. …

International Affairs: Alexander Konstantinovich, what role have Russian-France relations played in world politics over the past few centuries?

However, it would be incorrect, to say the least, to portray the relations between Russia and France and cloudless and problem-free. They have always been highly charged with emotion. Periods of harmony alternated with wars. In past European conflicts, we were often on different sides of the divide. France was in alliance with Sweden, Poland and Ottoman Empire at a time when those countries were at war with Russia. …

THE FRENCH MEDIA wrote about the 2017 presidential campaign in France as unprecedented: for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, it was neck-and-neck race of four candidates in the first round of election. Emmanuel Macron who posed as an independent candidate got 24.1% of the votes; President of the National Front Marine Le Pen. 21.3%; nominee of the Republicans Fran�ois Fillon finished with 20.1%. and the leader of extreme left Jean-Luc Mélenchon with 19.58% was the last of the four at the finishing line.¹ The extent of disorientation of the French electorate and the unprecedented split were amply confirmed in the second round by the fairly good results of Marine Le Pen (33.9%) confronted by practically all political forces of France; by the much lower turnout – 74.56% against 77.77% in the first round – and a much bigger share of votes blancs: 4.86 million or 11.52%.²

Foreign policy was one of the battlefields: never had the internal problems – economic, social and migration crises, Islamic terrorism and the deficit of confidence in the establishment – been intertwined in the eyes of the French with the foreign policy course. This explains why two out of four main candidates (Le Pen and Mélenchon) and eight out of 11 candidates confirmed by the Constitutional Council promised radical changes: either pulling France out of the EU and NATO or, at least, revising relations with them; more independence from the United States and tuning up, in one way or another, relations with Russia. …

SIX MONTHS filled with tension and keen apprehension of the “Trump effect” cropping up on the European soil separated two victories at the presidential elections: the victory of conservative Donald Trump in the United States and liberal Emmanuel Macron in France. The nation responded to the preliminary results of the second round in France announced on May 7 with barely concealed relief and a wave of unrestricted jubilation. The European multinational Liberal International that could barely tolerate Marine Le Pen’s populist conservatism and the very similar values of the new American president treated Macron’s victory as their common victory. Liberal politicians and the biggest European media of similar political and ideological convictions were lavish with words: L’heure de gloire pour la France, Merci La France! and La France dit Non! etc.

People celebrated the victory in the streets of French cities and towns; they sang La Marseillaise while highbrow intellectuals were trying to find a link between Macron’s victory and the ideas of the French Revolution of the late eighteenth century. In an official statement, Macron, the youngest president of the Fifth Republic, promised: “I’ll defend France, its vital interests, its image and its message: I make that commitment to you. I’ll defend Europe, the common destiny the peoples of our continent have given themselves. Our civilization is at stake, our way of living, of being free, of promoting our values, our common enterprises and our hopes. I’ll work to rebuild the link between Europe and the people it’s made up of, between Europe and citizens” and so on and so forth. …

THREE HUNDRED YEARS of diplomatic relations between Russia and France filled with political alliances, disrupted ties or even six wars have not diminished the two countries’ mutual cultural attraction.

For the first time in its history, the International Peter the Great Congress was held outside Russia, in France, from 20 to 22 April, 2017. It marked the 300th anniversary of Peter the First’s unofficial visit to France on from April 21 to June 24, 1717 that opened the history of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Congress was hosted by Paris and Reims, two of fifteen cities the Russia czar had visited 300 years ago. In line with the very special cultural traditions, the Congress presented Parisians with a month-long exhibition “Pierre le Grand, un tsar en France. 1717” held at the Russian Orthodox Cultural and Spiritual Center. …

Armen Oganesyan, Editor-in-Chief of International Affairs: Mme. Bréchignac, you are a nuclear physicist and have worked in Europe, Canada and the United States. Your work has received high international academic assessments. What do you see as your main studies and discoveries in nuclear physics?

Most of my work has been nano research. Specifically, I’ve studied tiny particles of metals, particles of sizes where literally each atom affects the overall picture and the properties of an object change when its size changes. To make it clearer, in studying gold atoms, for example, it transpired that gold can oxidize at nano level though oxidization would stop if gold increases in mass. …

MODERN DIPLOMACY is a major factor in Russia’s effective development and positioning in the 21st century. Russia clearly understands the problems of the world order and the critical state of many of its aspects in geopolitical terms, as well as the methodology of global governance based on the fundamental principles of international law and the UN Charter. This is evidenced by the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation that the Russian president signed on November 30, 2016. It not only reflects Russia’s national interests and the priorities of its foreign policy activity to ensure these interests, but also sets the task of harmonizing them with the positive trends and needs of the international community as such. Therefore, the concept documents the country’s integral function and its status as an organic and active part of the world of the 21st century.

The document – and herein lies its practical relevance – offers a program of specific steps and actions to ensure a law-based and secure world order. This is done by taking into account Russia’s experience (political, trade, economic, humanitarian, technological, innovative, and so on) in this century in resolving pressing problems, as well as proceeding from the forecasted evolution of existing and emerging trends. …

TODAY, many countries rely on public diplomacy (PD) when dealing with expert communities and civil society in other countries: foreign policy is growing increasingly personalized all over the world making PD dealing with specific circles of foreign audiences a useful and very much needed instrument.

It should be said that while in the United States the term public diplomacy is applied to the entire range of public and social diplomacy as well as strategic communications (propaganda and counterpropaganda in common parlance), in Russia public diplomacy is understood as work with expert communities, influential leaders and opinion-makers (social, political, business and public circles) that harmonizes with frontline public diplomacy. American PD efforts include interaction with foreign audiences, cultural diplomacy, academic and educational grants, international exchanges, and counterpropaganda against international terrorism and foreign policy rivals.² …

DURING MY PROFESSIONAL CAREER, I have witnessed several historical events in Cyprus. The July days of 1974, tragic for the people of Cyprus, are still fresh in my mind. Working at the Soviet embassy in Cyprus at the time, I observed the coup and the subsequent military operation by the Turkish army, which led to the forcible division of the island state into the Greek and Turkish sectors.

We Soviet diplomats did not remain indifferent to the processes that were unfolding on the island, demonstrating our commitment to the search for a just, stable and lasting peace settlement on Cyprus based on the choice made by the Cypriot communities themselves. Unlike other states, our country adopted a firm and consistent position in favor of the island’s independence, and this position has not undergone any situational changes to date. …

The Soviet Heritage and Particularities of National Policies in the Baltic States

THE MOMENT of the Soviet Union’s dissolution coincided with the period of an active search by European democracies for optimal forms of multicultural development based on the principles of ethnic tolerance and a provision of broad rights to national minorities. …

IN ANY COUNTRY, including Russia, the efficiency of government depends to a serious extent on the quality of information support. An effective mechanism of government is impossible to imagine without media support for all aspects of home and foreign policy. The quantity, quality and accessibility of information are criteria for the external assessment of a state and indications of its status in the international community.

Objectives that the Russian state seeks to achieve in an information sphere are realized in its information policy. It is a policy aimed at creating and enhancing a system for the production, reproduction, dissemination, and processing of information in the interests of constructive interaction between the state, society and the individual, defense of national interests, pursuit of strategic national priorities, and effective government in general. The key principles of this policy are formulated in the Doctrine of Information Security of the Russian Federation approved by the Russian president on December 5, 2016.¹ “The provision of information security,” the document reads, “is the implementation of mutually supportive measures (legal, organizational, investigative, intelligence, counter-intelligence, scientific and technological, information and analytical, personnel-related, economic and others) to predict, detect, suppress, prevent, and respond to information threats and mitigate their impact.” …

Principal Development Trends and Dynamics of the Legal Map of the World

WE CAN WITNESS TODAY the emergence of a new, polycentric world order. Developing countries play an increasing role in the world economy. This has brought many analysts and politicians to the conclusion that the era of the dominance of the world by the West, an epoch that has spanned centuries, is coming to an end.¹ It would be useful to see how this process manifests itself in principal trends and dynamics of development of the legal map of the world. …

International Affairs: Mikhail Leonidovich, almost a decade ago, Russian-Cuban relations saw the beginning of a new era in bilateral cooperation – namely, the transition from words and promises to action. What brought about these changes?

The financial groundwork was laid earlier, in 2006, when, during Russian Prime Minister M.E. Fradkov’s visit, intergovernmental agreements were signed to restructure Cuba’s $166 million debt to Russia and extend a $355 million loan to purchase Russian goods. …

ANALYSIS OF THE HISTORY of the Russian policy with regard to South Slavic peoples generally boils down to considering Russian-Serbian relations, often unjustifiably leaving out the Slovenians, Croats, Macedonians and others. However, all these peoples have also strived to establish close relations with us and use Russian authority and influence in the struggle for the interests of their own, including, admittedly, in conflicts with each other. For many centuries, Russia has been developing contacts with these peoples, and their cultures kept intertwining.

The Croats are no exception here. In the 15th century, thanks to the translations made by Croatian monk Benjamin (Veniamin), all Holy Scripture books were, for the first time in Russian history, integrated in a single Bible written in Slavic. In the 17th century, the views of a renowned Croatian scholar and theologian Jurai Krizanic facilitated the development of philosophy and the theory of Pan-Slavism in Russia; he was the first to start the process of liberating philosophy from the influence of the Church. In the 18th century, Catherine the Great recruited skilled Croatian sailors in Dubrovnik and Kotor to build a powerful Russian Navy. …

THE EIGHTH OF APRIL of this year was the 25th anniversary of the Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Turkmenistan and the Russian Federation. That date was the starting point of a qualitatively new period in the history of friendly and good-neighborly ties between the peoples of Turkmenistan and Russia. The relations between the two countries, which span many centuries, have had their logical continuation in recent times. These recent years of Turkmen-Russian cooperation have been marked by intensive dialogue and by mutual support and confidence in the international arena.

As Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow stresses, Russia is a strategic partner of Turkmenistan. The two countries have long-term bilateral relations that encompass all key spheres and are based on principles of equality and respect for each other’s interests, on mutual understanding, and on similar positions on principal international problems and trends. The effective and mutually beneficial partnership between our nations has a huge potential and is based on rich historical experience, on strong ties of friendship, good-neighborliness and mutual respect that bind the peoples of the two countries together, and on their awareness of present-day realities. In this connection, the Turkmen head of state emphasizes the need for maximum use of all resources of interaction since close and multifaceted Turkmen-Russian cooperation meets the ultimate interests of the two peoples and exerts an important positive influence on regional and international processes. …

The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Restoration of Diplomatic Relations Between Russia and Paraguay

ON MAY 14, 1992, a new democratic Russia and a democratic Paraguay, which had recently dismantled its authoritarian regime, put into effect their decision to restore diplomatic relations. A new era began in the history of communications of the two countries which are separated from each other by almost 12,500 km, but nevertheless share a lot of historical events (of which the Russians became aware only in the past 25 years). During the turbulent twentieth century, the two nations, so different at the first glance, managed to build an invisible yet strong communication link between themselves, however unusual this may seem. Real life can be even more unpredictable and fantastic than any most intricately woven fiction. …

THE WAVES OF DESTABILIZATION in the Middle East that have risen high in recent years, terrorist acts that follow one another, persecution of those who think differently or follow different religions in the Muslim countries and even outside them bring to mind, once more, Prof. Huntington. Indeed, can Islam and violence, Islam and democracy and, in the final analysis, Islamic and non-Islamic values cohabitate within the frames of the steadily globalizing community of men?

Are we dealing with a distant and unavoidable echo of a civilization-al conflict rooted in the past or should these waves be treated as growing pains of a relatively young and still highly passionary organism caused by changes and external civilizational pressure? …

IN THE MID-2010S, the problems related to European Muslims intensified under pressure of the migration crisis and terrorist acts carried out by religiously motivated extremists in some European countries. Hence a closer attention to the far from simple relations between Europe and the Islamic world and to their dimensions: demographic, migration, cultural, political, ideological, social, economic, etc. The scope of an article inevitably narrows down the range of the problems discussed.

The New Old Problems …

THE SWIFT DEVELOPMENT of information and communication technology (ICT) and its use in practically all spheres of activity not only lays the basis for the economic growth of any country but is also a reason for anxiety. Any object using ICT, whether it is civilian, military, social, or commercial, is in the risk zone with a wide range of threats. According to Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) statistics as of January 2017, hacking attacks have caused global damages over the past few years that varying estimates put at between $300 billion and $1 trillion or between 0.4% and 1.5% of the gross world product. Losses caused by hacking have a stable tendency to grow.

There is an increasing threat of ICT being used for resolving of international disputes by armed force, for terrorist attacks, and for violating human rights and freedoms. Use of fake events for fanning tensions is becoming a trend in international politics. Vladislav Sherstyuk, aide to the secretary of the Russian Security Council and director of the Institute for Information Security Issues (IBIP) of Lomonosov Moscow State University, told the XI International Forum on the Partnership of State Authorities, Civil Society and the Business Community in Ensuring International Information Security that government infrastructures, vital national facilities, and financial institutions were targets of increasingly sophisticated hacking. Hacking was not becoming less frequent, Sherstyuk said. …

International Affairs: Natalya Ivanovna, your name has for decades been strongly associated primarily with information security. What does your Info Watch Group do these days?

For example, in order to prevent information leaks, we advise against using smartphones, emails at open public online resources such as gmail.com, yandex.ru and mail.ru in conducting important talks, against uploading confidential information in a “cloud” without encryption and so on, because they are much easier to hack and disclose information. …

A YEAR AGO, on May 5, 2016, the world mass media announced a one-of-its-kind concert by the Mariinsky Theater orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev, in the Syrian town of Palmira. Unfortunately, this ancient jewel of the East had become the hostage of the pseudo-Islamic “state” (ISIS, banned in the Russian Federation). So a miraculous appearance of the Russian performers in the heat of an atrocious war became a symbol of the inevitable victory of Good over Evil. This concert, given by outstanding envoys of the Russian culture at the world-renown UNESCO landmark, not only gave the people of Syria hope for a peaceful future – it also demonstrated to the world community our country’s high humanistic mission and a creative nature of Russian foreign policy.

In over two decades that I have been directly involved in what is called parliamentary diplomacy, the formula “We disagree with Russia’s policy at home and abroad yet we admit that Russian art and culture are a valuable contribution to European culture and the culture of all peoples” that came even from the most stubborn opponents of Moscow has become very familiar. Nevertheless, some fanatical fighters with the “hand of the Kremlin” are continuously trying to undermine all attempts to widen the dialogue of cultures between Russia and the EU countries. …

IN THE 21ST CENTURY, core political, social, economic, and – what is more dangerous – cultural and moral values have plunged into a systemic crisis. The claims of the West to the top civilizational status don’t hold water any longer. Moreover, it is obviously losing its dominant economic positions.

China and other emerging economies are coming into the foreground. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS, associations whose members include Russia but no NATO countries, are becoming new global economic and political centers. …

OCTOBER 2017 will mark 15 years since Russia joined the World Medical Association (WMA). Our country joined the most influential international medical organization in 2002 at the 53rd WMA General Assembly in Washington, and coincidentally, 15 years after that event, the 68th WMA General Assembly will also take place in the U.S. (Chicago), in October. Despite the sanctions, the 66th WMA General Assembly was held in Moscow in October 2015 with great success. Supported by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Russian Health Ministry, the Academy of Sciences, the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service and other agencies, it was attended by over 100 countries, including the U.S., Canada, the UK, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, Israel, Brazil, India, China and South Africa, among many others. However, very little is known in Russia about this international medical organization that formulates an international medical agenda in regard primarily to issue of ethics and law.

All health protection systems in the world can be divided into two types: systems where the doctor is a subject of law and systems where the doctor is an object of law. The doctor’s legal status in the healthcare system is ensured through the existence or absence of a national medical organization that exercises its functions independently of state healthcare administration agencies. In countries where such medical corporation exists in the healthcare system, health protection is the function of the state and medicine (the practice of medicine) is the function and the responsibility of the medical corporation and its members, i.e., doctors, with the state retaining supervisory and licensing functions over medical activity. …

A FAMOUS Italian director’s lonely villa hosted an award ceremony on the volcanic Isle of Ischia – not far from Naples: the director being none other than Luchino Visconti and the award – “Brodsky on Ischia: Traveler Without Borders.” The award laureates were Irina Gerasimova, CEO of “Radio Orpheus,” and Lyubov Kazarnovskaya, an opera star.

The award ceremony location was deliberately chosen. After all, the director Luchino Visconti was also a “man of no bounds”: while a descendant of an aristocratic family line, he had Freudo-Marxist sympathies, worked at a musical theater and directed movies, some of which were labeled “questionable” by the critics. Many people today know Visconti because of his iconic La Traviata at La Scala, with Maria Callas as the prima donna. It is precisely this villa on Ischia, which was home to the opera’s practice sessions and where the director gave his priceless advice to the singer. …