Thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union: Putin and Russia's place in the world powers
Thirty years ago, on December 25, 1991, the then leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, resigned and handed over the presidency to the newly elected President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin.
That night, the red Soviet flag with hammer and sickle symbols was lowered from the Kremlin and replaced by the Russian tricolor.
The next day, the Supreme Soviet recognized the independence of the Soviet Republic and formally dissolved the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
The abrupt end of the USSR was a world-changing earthquake. It was a huge empire that had controlled several allied states for 70 years and extended its geopolitical influence to half the world.
This collapse suddenly plunged the newly formed Russian Federation into an identity crisis.
"Russia has never been a nation-state in the way we think it is in the West," Meira Milosevic, an analyst for Russia and Eurasia at the Royal Institute, told the BBC. Russia has been an empire, but it has never been a nation.
So, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia tried to create a Russian national identity, but it has been a very complicated process because Russia is a multi-ethnic, multi-national country, with great traditions and There is also a lot of imprint of the imperialist past.
He added that during the 1990s, Russia sought to find meaning not only in its national identity but also in its relations with the West.
But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, during the Cold War, the United States and its Western allies stopped treating Russia as a "great power," as was the case with the USSR.
The most significant manifestation of the West's and the United States' shift toward Russia was NATO's expansion into Eastern European countries, a region that Moscow considered to be under its influence.
Observers say this is exactly what Vladimir Putin was referring to when he described the collapse of the Soviet Union as the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century.
''We have become a completely different country and what was built over a period of more than 1000 years is largely lost.''
Thus, since coming to power in 2000, Putin has kept secret his determination to restore Russia's status as a world power after years of alleged humiliation at the hands of the United States and its NATO allies.
And, as Miley Milosevic points out, Putin has managed to bring Russia back to its strategic role as a world power.
Analysts say Putin sees himself as Russia's savior because Russia's attempt at democratic change in the 1990s failed and the country was completely destroyed and bankrupt.
The analyst added that Putin had saved Russia and had made great strides in restoring Russia's lost place on the international stage.
In fact, after the 1990s, which is remembered in Russia as a wasted decade, Putin made sure that Russia's voice was heard worldwide.
Lightning speed rise
Puting worked as a spy for the KGB, the Soviet secret service, for 16 years before resigning from government service in 1991 to begin his political career.
Putin took over the presidency temporarily after Boris Yeltsin resigned from the presidency in 1999, and only four months later he was elected president of Russia for the first time.
With this rapid rise, he has become the longest-serving president in the Kremlin since the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953.
''A controversial national referendum on constitutional reform in April this year has given him a chance to stay in power beyond his current fourth term, which ends in 2024.'' Putin, 69, could stay in the Kremlin until 2036.
Putin has signed into law a law that would allow him to remain in power until 2036.
Critics of him claim that the Soviet mentality shaped his thinking about the world.
Natasha Kurt, a professor of war studies at King's College London and an expert on security and foreign policy, told the BBC: "It is clear that Russia is back on the international agenda, but for positive reasons. no.'
"It's interesting to note that ten years ago (in the Kremlin) he talked about how Russia needed to make itself more attractive and use its 'soft power' or friendly influence. Required.
Now they have completely changed. No one (in Moscow) is interested in making themselves more attractive. All they want is for Russia to play an active role, for Russia to have an important place in the world, and for the world to value Russia. "
The expert said,''If you look at it from a defensive point of view, that's what Putin wanted, and I think he got it''.
Preferences
As experts say, Putin's first priority to prevent Russia's decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union is to prevent the advance or growing influence of foreign powers in Russian-occupied territories or states during the Soviet era.
In 2008, Russian forces invaded Georgia to prevent pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili from recapturing the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia, a Russian-held territory.
Similarly, in Ukraine in 2014, after the overthrow of Moscow's ally President Viktor Yanukovych after pro-Western protests, Russia intervened militarily, first annexing the Crimean peninsula and later in the Russian-speaking Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. Ukraine backs anti-rebels
The new deployment of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine has troubled the European Union and the United States.
As Milo Milosevic puts it, these military operations were not part of Putin's efforts to restore the Soviet Union's lost ground, but rather an important element of the basic tenets of Russia's historical concept of security.
He says the idea of protecting areas under his control stems from Russia's national security concept of defending its national interests and is the essence of the experience of attacks on Russia.
Experts say Russia wants to keep its potential enemies at bay. Russia considers NATO to be the biggest threat to its national security and does not want NATO to come and sit on its borders.
Military force
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited a large portion of Soviet nuclear weapons.
Although Russia has drastically reduced its stockpile of nuclear weapons, it is still the world's second-largest nuclear power.
In his 2018 address to the nation, Putin proudly mentioned Russia's new advanced and powerful weapons.
Just days before his re-election for a six-year term, Putin set new goals in front of hundreds of senior party officials and lawmakers, accusing the West of pressuring Russia to refrain from doing so. Had said
Putin had said that Russia had tested a new heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) called "Sarmat". Justifying the US withdrawal from the 2002 anti-ballistic missile deal, he said Russia was now forced to upgrade its ballistic missiles.
Putin said he had warned the West in 2004 that he was going to take such action, but that the West was not ready to talk to Russia.
In his speech, which was broadcast live on national broadcasters, President Putin said, "I did not want to talk to you at that time. No one listened to us. So listen to us now. '
''Russia has continued to modernize its nuclear arsenal, since then.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an international defense organization, Russia has added 50 nuclear "warheads" or weapons in one year to its "operational" deployment in 2021.
Russia has also added about 180 warheads to its total military nuclear arsenal, mainly due to the deployment of ICBMs fired from land and sea.
That is why the world today not only listens to Russia but also fears it.
International Relations
In his quest to restore Russia's world power, Putin has also taken it upon himself to strengthen ties in regions that were already defensively important to the Soviet Union, such as Latin America.
"Representations at the diplomatic level and in international organizations that were formerly used by the Soviet Union are now being used by Russia," says Mera Milosevic.
And, of course, Russia took advantage and continued the traditional historical relations of the Soviet Union, for example, in Latin America.
As experts point out, Russia's presence in Latin America is part of a broader international strategy aimed at weakening US leadership in the region and competing with China, another emerging power.
"Putin devises a brilliant strategy, as he has shown," said an analyst at the Elkano Royal Institute.
For example, it has managed to bring Russia into the political arena of the Middle East with far less economic, military or political power than the United States.
She added,''Today, Russia is an indispensable country, the only strategically active country in the Middle East, which speaks to everything from Hezbollah to the King of Saudi Arabia''.
''Russia is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.'' This is the place that he inherited from the Soviet Union and which gives him veto power.
Weaknesses
But Putin's diplomatic, military and strategic achievements have failed to hide Russia's fundamental internal weaknesses:
An economy that relies heavily on energy exports (Russia is the 11th largest economy in the world in terms of GDP), is plagued by widespread corruption, poor infrastructure and poor and inadequate government social assistance. And growing political and economic dissatisfaction.
As Natasha Kurt points out, Putin has stated his foreign policy is largely in opposition to the United States and the European Union, supporting "extraordinary" governments and selling arms to anyone who asks for them.
''Like the Soviet Union, which sold planes and weapons to African countries and planned to pay in five years, that doesn't necessarily mean increasing its influence''.
Kurt says that does not mean that these countries are going to be your loyal allies.
Russia sells large quantities of arms, but that does not make it an influential country.
You make a country a nuclear power plant, but that doesn't mean it has become your loyalty.
So when we talk about global influence and power, you have to be careful because in terms of influence, (Russia) is not doing what China is doing, for example in Africa, where they It is reaping long-term benefits in terms of investment.
More stress
Today, Russia's tensions with the West are at an all-time high.
The Group of Seven has warned Moscow that it could have "serious consequences" if it invades Ukraine.
''The Kremlin has said that Russia has no plans to invade Ukraine, and that the West appears to be convinced of Moscow's aggressive intentions, based on what it calls"false news" from the Western media''.
Currently, the divisions between Russia and the West are unlikely to be resolved soon.
Putin may have already achieved his goal of making Russia a respectable, fearful and dominant country in the world, but as Kohart pointed out, the president has a lasting place for Russia in the new world order. It is unlikely to be found in a place where it will be treated on an equal footing.
''I think Russia is still trying to find its place in the world," said the King's College expert. And now with the rise of China, it won't be easy''.
''Putin may think he knows how to do it, but that doesn't mean he will be able to do it.''