Understanding Russian President Putin And His Government's Foreign Policy

Sergei Karaganov. © RIA Novosti

Sergey Karaganov: The Man Behind Putin’s Pugnacity -- Mark MacKinnon, The Globe and Mail

Sergey Karaganov breaks into a broad smile when asked why his two-decades-old ideas about Moscow “protecting” Russian speakers abroad are suddenly the centre of his country’s foreign policy.

“Because almost everything I have said, happened,” Mr. Karaganov said in an interview in his high-ceilinged office in the historic Kitai-Gorod district of Moscow, a short walk from Red Square.

It’s Vladimir Putin who has made defending the rights of Russian-speakers wherever they live into a foreign-policy principle for the Kremlin. But in setting this interventionist new course, the Russian President borrowed heavily from the ideas of Mr. Karaganov, whom Mr. Putin has frequently consulted regarding foreign affairs.

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My Comment: I am very familiar with Sergey Karaganov's writings .... and I have been saying the same thing for years. This is a must read post if one is interested in better understanding Russian President Putin .... and more specifically .... his foreign policy.