Russia in Global Affairs

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RSCI Scopus

No. 2

2026 April/June

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Contents

Issue Information

Force and Its Limits (If Any)

Fyodor A. Lukyanov

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-5-8

HEGEMONIC INSTABILITY

A Great Redivision?

Andrei O. Bezrukov

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-10-21

From Kissinger’s Nightmare to European Quagmire: Divide et Impera in U.S. Foreign Policy

Rein Müllerson

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-22-41

Trump’s Wagers

Ana Esther Ceceña

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-42-46

IMAGINED COMMUNITIES, REALISTIC BEHAVIORS

Europe’s Historical Spirit and Collective Imagination

Stéphane Rozès, Natalia Rutkevich

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-48-60

Does Eurasia Really Exist?

Stanislav O. Byshok

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-61-78

The New Great Wall: The Logic of China’s Foreign Policy Behavior

Vassily B. Kashin, Veronika A. Smirnova, Alexandra D. Yankova

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-79-95

The Iranian Crisis and Russia: Seven Lessons

Ivan N. Timofeev

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-96-100

ALLIES AND ADVERSARIES

Allies, Partners, and Rivals: A Three-Dimensional Classification of Military-Political Alignments

Artem M. Maltsev

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-102-127

The Nuclear Component of the Union State

Dmitry V. Trenin, Andrei V. Rusakovich

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-128-140

Russia in Africa: From Minority to Majority

Vsevolod Yu. Sviridov

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-142-153

Can the Crisis in Russo-Japanese Relations Be Reversed?

Dmitry V. Streltsov

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-154-172

GREAT POWER GAMES

The Crimean War and Russia’s Relations with European Powers

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-174-200

The Phantom Menace

Aleksandr A. Vershinin

DOI: 10.31278/1810-6374-2026-24-2-201-220

Articles

Force and Its Limits (If Any)

No matter how the Iran conflict ends, its outcome will have far-reaching consequences. Is force almighty? How far is it ready to go to prove that it is almighty? And what will be left after that?

Fyodor A. Lukyanov

A Great Redivision?

No one wants the transition to a new world to be bloody. But it probably will be. For a long time to come, power will decide things. To be strong, we will have to learn much and change much. The keys to strength are a new socioeconomic model—capable of ensuring Russia’s rapid innovative growth—and a clear long-term goal of victory that mobilizes the spirit, talents, and hopes of the Russian people.

Andrei O. Bezrukov

From Kissinger’s Nightmare to European Quagmire: Divide et Impera in U.S. Foreign Policy

Many of today’s conflicts stem from seeing the world through a prism that divides it into democracies and autocracies, into a liberal-democratic garden surrounded by a jungle. In such a view, those who are not with us (and not like us) are against us. It is high time to overcome such a Manichean mentality.

Rein Müllerson

Trump’s Wagers

The foundations of U.S. hegemony have displayed cracks of many kinds. With a fractured and precarious society, growing challenges to its legitimacy and worldview, increasingly contested military power, and the rebellion of much of the Global South, the U.S. is not in the best position to impose its power on the world.

Ana Esther Ceceña

Europe’s Historical Spirit and Collective Imagination

For centuries, Europe has been dealing with the diversity of peoples, both inside and outside its borders, and today it is still able to become a bridge between the West and the civilizations of the Global South. Russia and Eurasia could take their rightful place in it. It would be a chance to create a more just and sustainable international order that could address the challenges of social justice, ecology, and migration.

Stéphane Rozès, Natalia Rutkevich

Does Eurasia Really Exist?

Eurasia today appears more as a set of possible scenarios and competing political projects, rather than an established pole of a multipolar world. The new world order is only emerging. Perhaps Eurasia will also emerge within it. For now, however, there exist only the possibilities of Eurasia.

Stanislav O. Byshok

The New Great Wall: The Logic of China’s Foreign Policy Behavior

China’s government is quietly but quickly turning it into an impregnable fortress, which, when completed, should have some resilience even to full-scale nuclear conflict. At the global level, China is likely to try to continue a restrained and cautious policy.

Vassily B. Kashin, Veronika A. Smirnova, Alexandra D. Yankova

The Iranian Crisis and Russia: Seven Lessons

The Iranian situation inspires little optimism. Instead, it is fostering a fatalistic resolve on all sides, which risks becoming the defining spirit of the coming years.

Ivan N. Timofeev

Allies, Partners, and Rivals: A Three-Dimensional Classification of Military-Political Alignments

IR theory explains security interactions between states primarily in terms of alliances, but recent studies are re-conceptualizing relations within the broader category of ‘alignment.’ The dynamics of different alignment types’ formation/disintegration may not agree with the main theories of alliance formation (balancing, bandwagoning, hedging, and tethering).

Artem M. Maltsev

The Nuclear Component of the Union State

Moscow and Minsk need the closer and deeper coordination of foreign and defense policy, given the military and political instability in Western Eurasia, and especially given the Ukraine crisis, which is unlikely to end after an agreement is signed and ceasefire implemented.

Dmitry V. Trenin, Andrei V. Rusakovich

Russia in Africa: From Minority to Majority

Africa will maintain friendly relations with Russia if Moscow avoids serious mistakes that could disappoint its partners and the new generation of African leaders—mistakes that are more likely if excessive foreign policy ambitions ignore economic and political realities.

Vsevolod Yu. Sviridov

Can the Crisis in Russo-Japanese Relations Be Reversed?

Excessive demonization of Japan and freezing relations with it in response to its participation in the West’s anti-Russian coalition pose significant risks to Russian national interests. And it is relevant that Japan’s anti-Russian policy has motivations that qualitatively differ from the West’s.

Dmitry V. Streltsov

The Crimean War and Russia’s Relations with European Powers

Although the Crimean War was a consequence of the Eastern Question, this does not justify viewing the Question—like Nikolay Danilevsky and other Russian Pan-Slavists did—as a confrontation between Russia and Europe.

The Phantom Menace

Moscow’s sharp pivot in late 2021–early 2022 was seemingly meant to finally change things. One can speculate about how events would have developed if Russia had achieved quick success in Ukraine.

Aleksandr A. Vershinin