International Affairs No. 1, 2024 – Table of Contents

Armen Oganesyan, Editor-in-Chief of International Affairs: Sergey Alekseyevich [Ryabkov], right now there is a lot of talk about how the West needs a new Ukraine strategy. The voices of many politicians and scholars in the US urging that Kiev be persuaded to wake up to strategic reality and even sit down at the negotiating table are growing stronger. But how realistic are the calls of the “peacemakers” who have suddenly seen the light?

Sergey Ryabkov: I am not particularly impressed by such signals – not because I am prone to historical pessimism, but simply because we have observed some oscillations before, at least among US political commentators, over whether the collective West and its protégés in Kiev are moving in the right direction. But this has not resulted in any changes in the official course of Washington or the capitals of its protégés. Most likely, now it will also take more time for the present deviations from the mainstream to be taken more seriously and thoroughly analyzed in the context of the current situation…

THIS paper continues a series of articles on the neo-global world written by the author in recent years.¹ It also examines problems stemming from attempts to simultaneously construct a new architecture of international relations and overcome the destabilizing legacy of the largely US-centric system of late globalization. The emerging multilevel dialectic in a number of regions, not always the most promising in terms of access to resources, forms “funnels of conflict” that lead to the destruction of the economic and sociopolitical systems previously formed there. The earlier proposed hypothesis about a “blank slate” in the space of international political and economic relations being necessary for the development of basic institutions and elements of the economic architecture of the new world is, unfortunately, confirmed.

We are currently witnessing the simultaneous emergence of several potential spatial “blank slates” where differences between the world’s key powers are being resolved by military force, which could result in chains of small regional conflicts turning into a systemic crisis of the global political and economic architecture. Power factors of varying degrees of intensity (from hybrid wars to direct military confrontation of the world’s largest states) will play a decisive role in the development and management of this crisis…

I FINISHED writing this work, logically expressed in three parts in terms of content and problems, but in its essence and spirit organically representing a single whole, on June 22, 2023 – the date of the anniversary of the attack of fascist Germany on my homeland, the Soviet Union. That day has remained in my memory all my life. I was in bed in a hospital ward with other children, and suddenly we saw all the medical staff running out of the hospital building into the courtyard, to the loudspeaker. We children rushed out after the adults. Vyacheslav Molotov was speaking on the radio. He reported the treacherous attack of fascist Germany on our country. The last words of his speech, “Our cause is just, the enemy will be defeated, victory will be ours!” evoked neither applause nor cheers, but rather there was a heavy, oppressive silence, and then the crying and sobbing of women,

Konstantin Dolgov, Chief Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Professor, Doctor of Science (Philosophy); [email protected]…

PROVIDING aid to other countries has always been an aspect of international relations. Amid the intensified struggle of neocolonialism and independent development on the global stage, Russia is facing new major challenges in the area of foreign aid, which, as former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini noted, “has become an increasingly expanding component of the foreign policy of states in determining not only their mutual relations, but also the entire balance of the international system.”¹

In various periods of its history, Russia has been both a provider and a recipient of foreign aid. During the Soviet era, the concept of foreign aid included its provision as a fulfillment of the international duty of supporting the struggle for people’s democracy, socialism, and national liberation. Soviet Russia, abandoning the tsarist treaties and agreements after the October Revolution, provided international aid to other countries. One of its first recipients after 1917 was China…

DECEMBER 4, 2023, marked 25 years since the adoption of the first Russian resolution “Developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security”¹ at the 53rd session of the UN General Assembly. This resolution ushered in an era of Russian international information security initiatives at the UN.

Russia initiated the launch of a new mechanism at the UN platform to discuss topical issues related to ensuring security in the information field. The process was triggered by a letter that [then] Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov sent to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on September 23, 1998. The letter noted “the rapid development and application of new information technologies and means of telecommunication.”² “Today it is possible to talk about the formation of a truly global information area for the international community, in which information is taking on the attributes of the most valuable element of both national and universal property, its strategic resource,” the letter said…

DECEMBER 4, 2023, marked 25 years since the adoption of the first Russian resolution “Developments in the field of information and telecommunications in the context of international security”¹ at the 53rd session of the UN General Assembly. This resolution ushered in an era of Russian international information security initiatives at the UN.

Thanks to Russia, a new mechanism for discussing current security issues in the information sphere was launched at the UN…

RUSSIA, and not only Russia, has launched a thorough and long overdue revision of the ideas that are largely responsible for the economic, political, and cultural characteristics of the worldthatemerged after the end of the Cold War in a climate of “unipolarity” and consequent globalization. Revision of these ideas, which at first glance seem to have been internalized, is part of an effort to consolidate the principle of multipolarity in international affairs, since it is obvious that a country cannot be genuinely independent without upholding its unique cultural values and customs any more than it can achieve technological sovereignty without having its own science and industry.

Russia, where three or four generations have seen several radically different political and ideological regimes, has opted for tradition-based development as its civilizational choice. While we do not reject scientific and technological progress or dispute the advantages of the international division of labor, we say no to false ideas and ideologemes that took root under the well-known historical circumstances of the late 1980s and the 1990s and are of little use in the current global geopolitical situation. Russian society rationally bases governance in all areas on traditional principles and methods that have evolved over the many centuries of Russian statehood, though it does not ignore any advanced foreign experience that it considers useful…

THE open confrontation between Russia and the West that had begun in 2014 reached a new level after February 24, 2022. It became a “hybrid” yet full-scale and bloody war waged by the West against us by the hands of the regime in Kiev.¹ The West responded to the Special Military Operation (SMO) with unexpected aggression. More economic sanctions, harsh political pressure, and another bullying campaign in the Western media could have been expected, but not the freezing of gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Russian Central Bank and not massive supplies of lethal weapons to Kiev.

This was not spontaneous improvisation; everything had been planned well in advance. The 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine had been stirred up to prepare Ukraine for a big war with Russia. The first three, most painful, packages of anti-Russian sanctions had been prepared in advance and were adopted by the EU on the eve and during the first three days of the SMO…

Keywords: Russia, the US, European Union, Ukraine, NATO, conflict, military assistance, energy, green energy, integration, Eastern Europe

ON FEBRUARY 24, 2022, the day the Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine began, US allies, primarily in Europe, lost all alternatives to their Russia policy. The Ukraine crisis that stemmed from the February 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine gave the US a pretext, first, to formulate a new argument in favor of NATO’s continued existence, and second, to maximally consolidate the anti-Russia trend in the EU political course – to neutralize the vacillations of some of its members (Germany, Italy, and France) and their pragmatic attitude toward Moscow in order to suppress confusion and disarray in the EU’s Russia policy. It should be acknowledged that Russia’s actions since February 2022 have been effectively exploited by the developers of this American strategy…

THE Black Sea region, which was on the fringe of the global political scene during the Cold War, has become ground zero for the formation of the new world order, and no matter how one sees this region’s geopolitical configuration, Crimea plays one of the principal roles in it.¹ Control of the peninsula guarantees control of territories north of the Black Sea, just as control of the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits means control of the south of the region. For two millennia, imperial ambitions focused simultaneously on Crimea and the Straits. This formula for regional stability and development effectively amounts to shared control by different nations. Over centuries of conflict and cooperation, Turkey and Russia have developed a mechanism for such control and are not prepared to lose it or have it watered down.

Since the Crimean Spring of 2014, the West, primarily the US and Britain as the most powerful anti-Russian geopolitical actors, have been raising obstacles to the reintegration of Crimea (the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol) into the Russian Federation…

RESEARCH into the political reintegration of the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol into Russia raises a set of issues associated with unfinished Eurasian integration projects and a response to security threats to Russia posed by the offensive strategy launched by the West and its allies on the territory of the former Soviet Union after 1991. Studying these issues makes it possible to identify reintegration models and the experience of setting up new government bodies in the new territories that may be used in future transformations of the post-Soviet space and in revising the outcomes of the Cold War.

This article sums up a study that aimed to identify and analyze models for the political reintegration into Russia of the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. At the time of its reunification with Russia in 2014, the Crimean Peninsula was a political entity different from all other regions of Ukraine. On one hand, the ethnic Russian majority of the…

ON OCTOBER 19-20, 2023, the Fifth Russian-Chinese Energy Business Forum (RCEBF) took place in Beijing. This event is held annually in accordance with agreements reached by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping and under the auspices of Russia’s Presidential Commission on Strategic Development of the Fuel-Energy Complex and Environmental Safety together with China’s National Energy Administration. The co-organizers of the event have been NK Rosneft PJSC and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

Traditionally this forum brings together the highest level of leadership from both sides. Participants included Vice-Premier of the PRC State Council Ding Xuexiang; Chief Executive Officer of NK Rosneft PJSC Igor Sechin, [who is also] Executive Secretary of the Russian Presidential Commission on Strategic Development of the Fuel-Energy Complex and Environmental Safety; Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak; Russian Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov; CNPC Chairman of the Board Dai Houliang; and leaders of Russian and Chinese companies, including the China National Shipbuilding Corporation…

ON OCTOBER 18, 2023, the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation concluded in Beijing. One of its key events was the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the last day of the event, he held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

This time, the heads of 20 countries, including leaders from Indonesia, Argentina, Chile, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, arrived in Beijing. UN Secretary-General António Guterres was present at the forum. The leaders of Western countries participating in this event included Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán…

TEN years are not enough to sum up the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – the first and highly successful project of the Xi Jinping administration designed to transform China from a regional into global power. Presented to the world as an international and mutually advantageous project, it was recieved positively in many states that have long been waiting for equal and advantageous economic relations.

TODAY, the project is actively developing more by inertia than management, as if Chinese leaders, having raised the wave, are watching in amazement as it spreads across the world. This loud response means that the initiative was well timed and well placed. Indeed, many countries that could barely cope with the globalization model imposed by the West responded positively to this option. The initiative’s declared democratic principles of international economic relations inspired countries to open doors to Chinese investments, goods, and workers; to share their resources with China more; and to accept its expanding humanitarian and ideological advances. It is no wonder that, according to Chinese President Xi Jinping, over 180 countries have officially joined the BRI (signed an agreement to support it)…

CIVILIZATION, as a category, has a range of meanings in both history and modern philosophy and politics. In The Grammar of Civilizations, which appeared in the 1960s, Fernand Braudel reasoned that it is impossible to define this concept unambiguously. He believed that the category of “civilization” refers to historically enduring fundamentals that are constantly changing their meaning, never ceasing to evolve before our eyes.¹ Indeed, it is the enduring significance of the phenomenon of civilization that explains the increased interest in it in an era of instability, when previous forms of the existence and functioning of the world are being questioned and transformed.

Contemporary global issues of civilizational development are associated with the complex conceptual entity of a “civilization state.” Special interest in a new understanding of this concept has arisen due to the radical changes in the world, the changing configuration of its centers and the conditions of the existence of humankind, as well as the emergence of new powerful poles of planetary-scale forces. The era of the predominance in geopolitical analysis of the content of the interaction and mutual influence of the nation-states that were forming, emerging, and disappearing is giving way to consideration in the global dimension of the determining role of major world players. Among them today are the largest non-Western countries of India, Iran, China, and Russia, which are, essentially, civilization states that exert global influence, or globalities, as some researchers put it.²…

NOVEMBER 1, 2023, is an important date in Russia-Yemen relations. On this day in 1928, a Treaty of Friendship and Trade was signed between our countries. This document laid the groundwork for the development of bilateral political, trade, and economic ties. The Treaty was extended on October 31, 1955, and cooperation between the two countries steadily increased throughout the second half of the 1950s. The following decade was a particularly important period that saw our bilateral cooperation deepen across the board.

In October 1962, right after the revolution of September 26, Moscow was the first country to recognize the new, republican Yemen – the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR). In subsequent years, our country provided large-scale assistance in modernizing Yemen’s infrastructure and developing its industry. One of the major projects was implemented in the city of Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast, where Soviet specialists built a deep-sea port that became the country’s sea gate closest to the capital and badly needed by Yemen’s northern provinces. The first ship to enter the harbor was also a Soviet one. Through our conversations with local people, we know that Yemenis, especially those living in the Tihamah region on the Red Sea, still remember and appreciate this…

IF an enlightened Russian reader five years ago had the opportunity to peruse today’s news in Russian or foreign media, they would likely find it challenging to believe what they read and might suspect deception. This is understandable. Five years ago, some of the things happening today would have seemed unimaginable (except to those few people who, even then, could foresee the scenarios planned earlier and unfolding today; Vladimir Zhirinovsky shared some interesting ideas regarding future events, conflicts, and the civilizational struggle).

Certainly, life five years ago was not devoid of problems or conflicts, but we had not yet encountered some of the present-day realities. Given the situation at the time, who could have imagined that in 2023 the Armed Forces of Russia and Ukraine would be fighting on Ukrainian territory, that the shelling of cities and populated areas of the regions of the Russian Federation bordering Ukraine by Ukrainian troops would no longer be a sensation, and that Ukrainian military drones would try to bomb infrastructure in the heart of Moscow?…

Keywords: Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). US, Asia-Pacific Region, integration, trade agreement

ON October 27, 2021, US President Joe Biden announced that his country planned to launch a new international integration project: the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity. The word “prosperity” soon disappeared. The media and the academic community now refer to it as the IPEF (Indo-Pacific Economic Framework). Its initially declared goals included defining shared objectives in the region with respect to trade facilitation, digital economy standards, supply chain resiliency (especially important since the COVID-19 pandemic), clean and “green” energy, labor rights, and vaguely defined “other areas of mutual interest” [4]…

Keywords: European Union, maritime activities, European Commission, maritime policy of the EU, sustainable blue economy, holistic approach

IN 2006, the European Union announced that it would base its maritime policy on a holistic concept of oceans and seas.¹ Through its subsequent actions, the EU has proven that it is determined to apply this principle to the whole of the World Ocean and not just to individual seas.² It has, for instance, demonstrated this by seeking to participate in key forms of regulation of global maritime activities, primarily as an initiator and a sponsor.³ Subsequently, this holistic principle and later derivatives of it formed the basis of EU rules for a more efficient maritime economy…

Keywords: technological sovereignty, innovation, European Union (EU), Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), research, R&D, Eurasian technological platforms

ARTICLE 4 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) vests the EU with “competence to carry out activities … in the areas of research, technological development and space … in particular to define and implement programmes” but adds that “the exercise of that competence shall not result in Member States being prevented from exercising theirs.” In other words, member countries are free to legislate on the creation, commercialization, and application of technologies, while the mission of the EU as an organization is to provide general legal support for their technological development. EU institutions form the European Research Area (ERA), a system for the free circulation of researchers, scientific knowledge, and technology, and provide companies, research centers, and universities with facilities for being competitive players on the world market…

Keywords: dialogue structure diplomacy, the Roscongress Foundation. St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), multipolarity, sovereignty

THE diplomacy of dialogue structures is a significant tool in the humanitarian aspect of Russia’s foreign policy that focuses on creating a positive image of Russia by promoting its achievements in the fields of culture and science and strengthening the position of the Russian language.¹ Utilizing the potential of this track grows even more relevant when it becomes difficult or impossible to reach an agreement at the traditional level of interaction – between heads of state or professional diplomats. In such cases, organizing and holding international events can create an additional communication channel. This activity broadens the avenues for communicating Russia’s official position to both the Russian public and foreign audiences…

THE Concept for Russia’s Humanitarian Policy Abroad affirms that it is a key national interest of Russia to familiarize the global community with the cultural heritage of our multiethnic nation. Thus, “the opportunity to present abroad outstanding examples of musical, theatrical (including opera, ballet, and drama), circus, and pop art, as well as the song and dance of the peoples of Russia, as widely as possible” is officially recognized as a fundamental tool for promoting Russian culture.¹ However, the promotion of Russian culture abroad in unfriendly states faces numerous difficulties due to the current aggravation of geopolitical relations, the degradation of the international situation, the escalation of global tensions, and the increased sanctions pressure. Existing cultural diplomacy practices are called upon to overcome emerging obstacles.

Throughout history, cultural cooperation has repeatedly influenced international relations, but it was only amid the intense rivalry among European states in the 19th century that the prerequisites emerged for the modern understanding of cultural diplomacy as a means of expressing and promoting the values of national-state identity abroad. Terminologically, in the 20th century, this trend was reflected in concepts and definitions such as “cultural exchange,” “cultural ties,” “cultural cooperation,” “cultural influence,” and “cultural policy.” The term “cultural diplomacy” was introduced into scientific circulation by the American Sovietologist Frederick Barghoorn and was used to assess the cultural “expansion” of…

Question: October 7, 2023, marked the onset of a new stage in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Was Israel unprepared for the attack by Hamas?

Answer: The events of October 7 dealt a major blow to the IDF’s reputation, but the importance of this failure should not be either exaggerated or downplayed. The existing situation today is the result of a whole series of factors: mistakes made in Israeli intelligence, Hamas’s thorough preparation, and accumulated socioeconomic changes both in Israel itself and in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the element of surprise is still an important military factor. Modern warfare is characterized by the extreme difficulty of the covert deployment of large-scale military contingents in a world of well-developed space reconnaissance and a camera in every phone. This is still true for large-scale deployments and for sizable military theaters…

IN AUGUST 1876, Victor Hugo wrote in a French newspaper about tragic events in Bulgaria: “It becomes necessary to call the attention of the European governments to a fact so small it seems that the governments appear not to perceive it. The fact is this, a people is being assassinated. Where? In Europe!… When will finish the martyrdom of this heroic little nation?” Oscar Wilde, Charles Darwin, and Giuseppe Garibaldi angrily denounced the Porte. In Britain, Prime Minister Disraeli was harshly criticized by both parties for his Ottomanophile policy.

American journalist [Januarius] MacGahan’s reporting from Bulgaria, published in the London Daily News, went off like a bombshell that put the government on the verge of political bankruptcy. Refuting Disraeli’s claims that the Turks were treating civilians humanely, McGahan described the burning of churches with hundreds of elderly men and women inside, the torture of men, the abuse of women, and the killing of children. The American testified to the total extermination of the population of 58 Bulgarian villages, where 90% were civilians. MacGahan stirred up the European press as well. The major newspapers sent their correspondents to the Balkans, and their reports from the field stirred the public in Europe, while the American press lashed out at European politicians for their inaction…

IN 1938, all the churches near Berdyansk were closed, and the priests who had not yet been arrested came to the city hoping to somehow survive, to be near the church building, to be able to participate in the Sacraments at least occasionally. At that time, the dean in Berdyansk was the famous Archpriest Viktor Mikhailovich Kiranov – a spiritually beautiful and strong person. He hailed from an ancient Bulgarian priestly family, the founder of which was, according to legend, the priest Protasiy Kiranov. Archpriest Stefan Kiranov left invaluable information about the Kiranov family and the cruel persecution of Orthodox clergy in his memoir titled “The Story of a Bessarabian Priest About the Suffering Under the Turkish Yoke of Orthodox Bulgarians Who Fled Turkey to Russia in 1830 and Settled in Bessarabia.”** What follows is an excerpt from that memoir.

In 1830, in order to escape the Mohammedan persecution and oppression, some Bulgarians fled (and these Bulgarians are known as the Bezhinars) Turkey for Russia and settled in the southern part of Bessarabia. The oppression of Christians in Turkey is cruelly painful, absolutely inhuman – the Turkish yoke was unbearable. Believing that, in view of the current suffering of our brothers in Turkey, the attitude of the Turkish authorities and Turkish individuals to the Orthodox people, and especially to the priests who lived in Turkey before moving to Russia, may present some interest to every compassionate reader, I will try, insofar as my strength and sources allow, to say everything that can be said about these barbaric relations…

THE 18th “Won Together” film festival kicked off on November 4, 2023, the Day of People’s Unity. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sent a message of greetings that said, in part: “The festival has over the years become a respected creative platform for dialogue among filmmakers of many countries.”

The festival is organized by the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly and the Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio with support from the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, and the Administration of the City of Sochi…

Keywords: Soviet-Portuguese relations, Portugal, USSR, US, the problem of colonialism, theory of lusotropicalism, national liberation movements in Africa, UN, NATO

AFTER World War II, relations between the Soviet Union and Portugal were rather tense, mainly due to the anti-communist nature of the António de Oliveira Salazar regime in Portugal and its position during the war. However, with the changes to the international status of the USSR in the second half of the 1950s, a positive trend emerged toward rapprochement between the two countries with the prospect of restoring diplomatic relations, which had been effectively terminated after the Russian Revolution. At the same time, the growing interest of Soviet diplomacy in Africa and the rise of national liberation movements in the Portuguese colonies put an end to this process…

MOSCOW. Summer. Sukharevskaya Square. Strains of upbeat music float from an open window along with barking commands of a man’s voice: “Keep time! Listen to the music! Watch your hands! Always keep your arms perfectly straight.” This is not a dance lesson but a first-aid class by the Russian Red Cross (RRC). There are 16 of us from a variety of professional backgrounds in the class – an attractive businessman, a classy hair stylist, a trim fitness instructor, an intelligent student, a self-confident psychologist, a well-groomed financier, a pale IT expert. We are being taught CPR on individual training apparatuses – a male torso with a head but no hands. Public first aid courses are a staple of this organization. Conversation with our trainer and the skills my son and I acquired prompted me to reflect on the man whose efforts in the 19th century gave concrete form to the ideas of humanitarian relief that are being implemented today.

PRACTICALLY everyone has heard about national Red Cross societies and the International Red Cross Committee (IRCC), but few know the name of its ideologist and founder: Swiss businessman Jean-Henri Dunant…