Professional Documents
Culture Documents
This book is edited by Yves Boyer and Isabelle Facon, Assistant Director and
The book consists of nine essays on Russian foreign policy and security by noted
French and Russian political analysts and statesmen. The Russian authors include the
Director, Carnegie Center, Moscow); Yurii Fyodorov (scholar, Institute for the Study
of the United States and Canada, Russian Academy of Sciences); and Konstantin
Makienko (Assistant Director, Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies,
Moscow). Besides Boyer and Facon, the French authors include Anne de Tinguy of the
same Foundation for Strategic Research, and Dominique David (École Spéciale
Militaire de Saint-Cyr).
Two especially interesting essays are Boyer’s first one (“Les Russes”) and de
Tinguy’s final essay (“La Russie peut-elle avoir une ambition asiatique?”). Boyer
explains that the West’s hope for change in Russia has disappeared. If not for its
nuclear power, Russia would now be considered a “pariah state.” The economy
disagree about the war in Chechnya. The White House has accused the Kremlin of
maintaining sinful relationships (des relations coupables) with Iran and Iraq (p. 7).
Boyer argues that the real source of the West’s discomfort with Russia is its policy
In her essay, de Tinguy points out that “Russia is neither European, nor
(p. 191.) Russia’s partnership with China, defined since 1996 as “strategic,” was
established after the shockwaves of the USSR’s collapse had dissipated. De Tinguy
argues that constant lectures by Russian and Chinese leaders about the need for
multipolarity stem from their shared desire to limit the power of the United States
and to preserve the power of the UN Security Council, of which they are both
permanent members (pp. 196-197). This shared belief prompts the Russians and
Chinese to disapprove of NATO missions in Iraq, Kosovo, and East Timor. They
disapproved of the U.S. and British bombing of Iraq, because the UN Security
Council had not approved the action. They also condemned the NATO air raids of
Kosovo and the U.S.-Japanese antimissile defense theater in the Pacific. Finally,
both Russia and China rejected all peace plans for East Timor that were not
Council.
De Tinguy explores all angles of the question she raised. While some see
Russia and China as natural allies, others see such an alliance as a threat to Russia’s
relationships with both Western and other Asian countries. Still others see China as
a possible menace to Russia, since their alliance is unequal: one is a declining power
and the other is a rising power. Condemned to being a “junior” partner, Russia
risks being led far from its own interests in its efforts to support its Chinese ally.