Russian policy toward central Asia and the middle east

The one certain thing about Soviet foreign policy in the Cold War era was its highly monolithic character. This was true of Soviet behavior in general and toward specific regions in particular. Although Moscow tried to show some sensitivity to the individual particulars of different regions, its overall policy approach toward each region was still guided, in one way or another, by its superpower rivalry with the United States and its commitment to certain broad ideological goals. Central Asia and the Middle East-the region stretching from Afghanistan to Morocco-proved to be a high-priority area in this respect. The same, however, cannot be said about Russian foreign policy. Ever since the disintegration of the USSR and the emergence of the Russian Federation as fledgling democratic successor to the Soviet Union, Russia’s policy approach to this region has been marked more by fluidity and diversity than certainty and predictability. It has been grounded partly in the foreign policy changes initiated in the Soviet era under Mikhail Gorbachev but more firmly in post-Soviet Russia’s turbulent, divided, internal politics. It has, nonetheless, been motivated by an overall direction and purpose in the conduct of Russia’s relations with the region.