THE CRISIS IN UKRAINE IN 2014 AND THE RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE ON EUROPEAN SECURITY

Анотація

The end of the Cold War caused the creation of a new security architecture on the European continent. However, at present it should be said that the attempt to include the Russian Federation in cooperation with Western countries initiated since the 1990s has been unsuccessful, what is more Russia refused to join the western structures on neo-liberal principles. One can assume that the pragmatic cooperation of the Russian Federation under the rule of Boris Yeltsin with the USA and the countries of Western Europe was dictated by the impossibility of implementing its own vision of international relations, especially in terms of security. It resulted from the political and economic crisis after the collapse of the USSR – and thus the lack of tools to influence the international arena – as well as the secessionist movements in the Caucasus, including in Chechnya.

The undermining of the position of the Russian Federation as a world power by the United States in the international arena intensified the dissatisfaction of this state, and thus referred to the past and mythologized the concepts of the empire of the nineteenth-century tsarist Russia and the USSR, which were given positive traits. Many Russians today also feel the heirs of the great imperial tradition. Nostalgia for the empire causes voices in Russian political and scientific circles to state that this is the only right way for the development of modern Russia. The international identity of the Russian Federation has been shaped as imperial.

The implications of the activities of the Russian Federation on the Crimean Peninsula and in the east of Ukraine in March 2014 led to the destruction of the security system in Europe, which was shaped after the Cold War, which was undoubtedly a turning point and will have long-term consequences in the European security architecture. In addition, it has contributed to the change of relations between the Russian Federation and the United States and western European countries, which may pose a threat to European and global security as well as a possible new Cold War. The purpose of this article is to analyze the activity of the Russian Federation in terms of Russian security concepts relating to Europe. These activities are part of the security architecture that they want to impose on other countries Russian weight, considered as a «geopolitical game», which aims to consolidate its own influence. The central point of the publication is the thesis that the feeling of danger in the political elite of the Russian Federation by the events in Ukraine (the wave of major manifestations and protests overflowing in Ukraine since the country gained independence in 1991) was perceived as a threat to the geopolitical influences of this state. For this reason, for Russia, military operations in the Crimea and in the east of Ukraine were perceived as indispensable defensive actions in order to thwart the expansion of the influence of the United States and NATO on the Russian border. Currently, the conflict in Ukraine is undoubtedly one of the most important geopolitical challenges in terms of security in the 21st century in Europe. The conflict in Ukraine is undoubtedly a challenge for the Western countries and a test of unity. The strategy of the Russian Federation is to destroy the unity of actions of the NATO and European Union states. The new security architecture presented by the authorities of the Russian Federation with its superpower status and the return to the «concert of powers» is unacceptable for European countries. However, Russian imperialism causes an increase in instability in Europe.

Key words: international relations; security policy; political concepts; world order; foreign and security policy of the Russian Federation.