Thread by @dubowy_alex

Intriguing analysis by @baunov on #Putin's foreign policy at @CarnegieRussia.

"[...] the way to restore the lost positions is to carefully avoid the mistakes that led the USSR to a geopolitical loss"

carnegie.ru/2020/02/06/ru-…

#Russia2024 #PostPutin

@baunov @CarnegieRussia The current Russian foreign policy is not ideological. The world is not divided according to ideological or economic principles. There are no friends or enemies in the old sense. A friend can be any country which does not deny Russia's right to promote its interests. 1/10

@baunov @CarnegieRussia Russia's foreign policy follows certain internal and external interests and constraints, which are completely depersonalized. 2/10

@baunov @CarnegieRussia However, certain aspects of foreign policy are certainly related to Vladimir Putin. Personal aspects of Putin's foreign policy may not be where we are looking for them at all and they do not always correspond to the foreign myth about Putin. 3/10

@baunov @CarnegieRussia Russia's foreign policy is often interpreted as a continuation of the domestic one (e.g. military interventions is a means of raising the political ratings). In reality, this is rather the opposite: Vladimir Putin's domestic policy is a continuation of the foreign policy. 4/10

@baunov @CarnegieRussia The goal of Putin's foreign policy can be called counterrevolutionary and restorative. The primary way to restore the lost positions is to carefully avoid the mistakes that led the USSR to a geopolitical loss. 5/10

@baunov @CarnegieRussia Putin is a spontaneous, or rather an intuitive proponent of market economy. He considers capitalism as the foundation of Russia's security and competitiveness. 6/10

@baunov @CarnegieRussia Putin is skeptical of the big owners who emerged in the nineties. However, he had not done what was expected by almost the majority of Russian citizens: he had not annulled the results of privatization and had not returned to the state-led economy, as for example Belarus. 7/10

@baunov @CarnegieRussia Putin is not pushing the social state within the country. A bloated social state is too expensive and undermines Russia's global competitiveness. 8/10

@baunov @CarnegieRussia Measures, such as fixed prices for basic goods, early retirement, increases in wages and pensions at the expense of the state, although desired by the majority of the population, are not being implemented. Financial security is considered more important than political rating 9/10

@baunov @CarnegieRussia But Putin is ready for social spending where it is not just to support consumption or his popularity, but where support is directly related to the topic of security, such as maternity capital. 10/10