Thank you or tank you – The rise of diplomats in the Putin era (2000–2017)
Thank you or tank you – The rise of diplomats in the Putin era (2000–2017)

Summary/Abstract: A recent analysis of Russia focusing on the person of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s and his psychological profile, though easy to comprehend, does not help to understand the international choices that Russia has opted for in the last decades and prevent us from seeing what Moscow really wants. Trapped in the old narratives of the Red Threat, the West cannot comprehend that today’s Russia is not an automatic continuation of the Soviet period, but has developed new priorities and leadership, with different policies and approaches, especially in foreign policy. Instead of accepting the interpretation that Russian politics over the last seventeen years is dominated by Tsar Putin tout court, the paper offers a theory of three elites (spies, jurists, diplomats) that have rotated in and out of the Kremlin’s top leadership positions during this period; each of them dealing with specific policy objectives. According to this interpretation, we are currently in the middle of the phase dominated by Russian Diplomats and the return of Foreign Policy as a central pillar of the Kremlin’s political agenda.

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