O permanență a politicii externe ruse și sovietice: glacisul strategic
A constant of the Russian and Soviet foreign policy: The Strategic “Glacis”

Summary/Abstract: At any given moment of its very long history, Russia (at least starting with an 18th century) made serious attempts to implement - and to maintain - the complete strategic control of areas around its borders. Regarded as useful (and sometimes as vital) buffer areas, all countries around Russia were pressed (with different intensities and different methods) to integrate themselves within the framework of a grand strategic design: one enabling Russia, which traditionally feels itself both insecure and threatened on various strategic directions, to heavily rely on these buffer zones in order to consolidate its national security. Nowadays, the Russian Federation uses, strongly resembling the behavior of the former USSR, a lot of political and economic pressure in order to implement new form of strategic control in its “close neighborhood”. A major difference occurs, anyhow: instead of using military force or direct political control (implemented by exporting or sponsoring socialist revolutions), Russia skillfully uses, now, a new and immensely potent political lever: natural gas and oil.

• Details
• Contents