The New Dimensions of Russia's Geopolitical Code

The debate of whether Russia belongs to the European civilization has been a long-running one. Russian elites have traditionally held that Russia should follow the European track of development, while the masses have held rather anti-Western views. Currently we are seeing sea changes in how the Russian elite view Russia’s geopolitical code. In foreign policy, the regional dimension is getting ahead of the global one, while the pro-Western sentiment is reversing. It is now the first time the political elite in Russia has taken the same stance as the majority of the population and is playing the anti-Western card as leverage in domestic policies. This article analyzes the evolution of Russia’s geopolitical code over the last two decades and identifies the reasons for this shift. The article also analyzes the factor of European consciousness, concluding that, failing to accept Russia, Turkey, and Israel as equal partners of the West and its outposts in advancing Western values, Europe shrank back to the mental frontiers of the Middle Age.