Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Connor Vaughan
POLI 2057
13 April 2018
From the rolling plains of Georgia to the forests of Ukraine, Russia is known by many for
its attempts of expansion throughout the years. By most of the world, these attempts of expansion
are viewed as a threat to the west and paint Russia an evil narrative, but in the eyes of Russians
and many people who live in the surrounding areas, Russia is doing a service to its people of
reasserting itself as a dominant world power. This spilt in opinion is what is dangerous and could
lead to a second cold war; as people have different world views and see things differently in life.
Before Putin took office in 2000, he vowed to rebuild Russia’s military, reclaim former soviet
lands, and restore Russia as a global power by improving their economy. The main way Russia
Russia has a geography problem and is at a severe disadvantage when it comes to trade and
naval strength. Historically, naval power equaled power as the two were synonymous. There was
no better way for countries to project their power and grow their economy than to have a powerful
navy and merchant fleet. Many of the most powerful countries today; Japan, China, and the United
Kingdom, were ones that once had the most powerful navies in the world. There is a reason that
none of the eighteen largest economies are landlocked countries. While Russia may not be
landlocked, its ports at St. Petersburg and Archangelsk often become ice-locked during the
majority of the year and require ice breaking ships which significantly slows the time it takes to
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trade at these ports. The final major Russian port is in Vladivostok which is located on the Pacific
Ocean 5,620 miles from Moscow. As ice and distance are a problem, they aren’t the main concern
that Russia has looming over it. The biggest problem is that their access to the world’s oceans is
all through choke-points controlled by NATO or NATO allies. This has left Russia with an
economic and military incentive to expand toward warmer waters. With the latter option being
used the most, we see examples of this through Russian involvement within the Syrian Civil War
and the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. This is part of Putin’s agenda to expand the military
as obtaining more warm-water ports would allow for Russia’s navy to take up more strategic
Since the 1970s, Russian support for Syria has been prevalent. But after the fall of the
Soviet Union, their alliance diminished. As Putin took office in 2000, it was part of his agenda to
restore Russia to its former glory and expand the military. The entire reason Russia backs Assad
and is involved in Syria in the first place can be linked to their warm water port located in Tartus,
Syria. This port is a prime location Russia desperately needs since it never freezes, and naval
vessels don’t need to pass through NATO-controlled areas. Therefore, Russia will go to any length
in maintaining a good relationship with the Assad regime even if the regime is viewed to be corrupt
by many. By providing military and financial support to the Assad regime, Russia will do whatever
it takes to hold on to this key port. While Russia may not be involved directly with their own
military, they contract private Russian paramilitary groups to go assist Assad. This still proves to
be a problem as there are so many actors involved in Syria that it becomes a hot bed for trouble
and everyone involved needs to be cautious of their actions. In this article by the New York Times
it states that, “Four Russian nationals, and perhaps dozens more, were killed in fighting between
pro-government forces in eastern Syria and members of the United States-led coalition fighting
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the Islamic State, according to Russian and Syrian officials.” While they may not have been
Russian soldiers, they are still Russians and that provides for a tense situation in the middle-east.
In 2014, Ukraine was a nation overwhelmed with political instability as the populace were
protesting in the capital of Kyiv for the removal of President Yanukovych over his ties with the
Kremlin. As mass unrest came upon Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin saw this as a prime
opportunity to gain access of Crimea. Russia wanted Crimea for two reasons: it consisted of a
massive ethnic Russian population and contained a warm water port in Sevastopol. The occupation
of Crimea came days after the protests in Kyiv and Crimean independence was declared not even
a month later. As the annexation of Crimea was successful, it did not go unnoticed by Ukraine.
The Donbass region saw a rise in Pro-Russian sentiment and the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts
broke away from Ukraine and formed their own separate republics. While no other United Nations
member aside from Russia recognizes the sovereignty of these republics, that hasn’t stopped
Russia from trying to spread their influence there. The conflict involving the Donetsk’s People’s
Republic is actually quite infamous due to the crash of Malaysian Flight 17 which is believed to
have been shot down by Russian Nationalists over Donetsk and killed around 300 people. This
occurrence was met with much disdain from the international community as the Kremlin denied
being responsible and stated that the Ukrainians were the ones who were at fault. This incident,
along with the active attempts of instituting loyal puppet governments in the Donbass region, are
examples of a possible second cold war. Unlike the situation in Syria, no other foreign actors are
involved. This means that Russia can send in its own troops alongside the separatists in order for
their troops to gain real-life combat experience. Even to this day, Russian troops and Russian
backed separatists occupy this region and show no signs of returning it to Ukraine in the future
Following the Russian Revolution on 1917, Georgia declared itself an independent state.
And while the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are officially a part of that state, they have
had several separatist movements since Georgian independence. Much like the case of the people’s
republics of Luhansk and Donetsk, Russia is the only United Nations member to acknowledge the
sovereignty of these two regions. While Georgia is one of those countries that doesn’t make
international headlines very often, its still a place we should keep an eye on. In 2008, Georgia
conducted a military operation inside South Ossetia, and Russia decided to intervene. Russia
claimed that Mikhail Saakashvili committed genocide against ethnic Russians in the area and they
intervened to defend those people. Russian reasserted their military dominance in the region by
quickly beating back the Georgian forces and ending the war within a matter of days. However,
despite the war being over for several years, Russia maintains a heavy military presence within the
region and have established a military base and border fence. This Russian presence, while
seemingly frightening to Georgians, is quite peaceful but still provides for uneasy feelings within
the area.
Something all of these locations have in common is they are places Russia is trying to
assert their national interest. Either these regions have an economic significance, provide for ethnic
unification, or allow for a better military. Whatever the case may be, the driving force behind the
Russian national interest that’s advocated by Putin can be linked to nationalism. Russian
nationalism might be at the highest rates in recent decades due to Putin following through on those
promises of “restoring the nation to a time of greater glory” that he ran for office on some time
ago. The Washington Post states that, “Nationalism has been used to explain everything from
Russia’s intervention in Syria, Russia’s unusually large number of hate crimes and the regime’s
rush to host sporting mega-events such as the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and the 2018 World
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Cup.” Russia want to make itself heard again on the global scale. So many people viewed them as
weak once the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and they want to shed that image. The Soviet Union
was gone overnight, and the citizens of the ex-Soviet Union (namely Russians) were left soulless
upon its collapse. So much Russian territory was being lost as new independent state were popping
up and what was once a world power facing a world of enemies became a frail nation still
surrounded by the same enemies. Russian nationalism is very important and drives many of the
Despite nationalism being completely justified by the Russians, most of the international
community disapprove as they don’t want Russia’s national interests to escalate into global
interests. In other words, they don’t want to see Russia bite off more than they can chew. As long
as Russia is pursuing expansion, they pose a threat to other sovereign nations. Keeping interests
within their own borders is something I believe Russia should do for a while in order to allow for
Works Cited
New York Times- Dozens of Russians are Believed Killed in US-backed Syria Attack
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/world/europe/russia-syria-
dead.html?action=click&contentCollection=Middle%20East&module=Trending&version=Full&
region=Marginalia&pgtype=article
The Washington Times- Surveys show Russian nationalism is on the rise. This explains a lot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/30/surveys-show-russian-
nationalism-is-on-the-rise-this-explains-a-lot-about-the-countrys-foreign-and-domestic-
politics/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.98c583c8c0d2