THE ORIGINS OF AGGRESSIVE FOREIGN POLICY OF RUSSIA

Abstract

Unprovoked armed aggression of Russia against Ukraine after victory of the Dignity Revolution in it, annexation of the Crimea, kindling and financial and material support of separatist rebellions in the eastern regions of our country actualized analysis of international-historical reasons of aggressive behavior of Russia, primarily regarding the former Soviet republics. Therefore, an attempt to look back this problem in the context of the medieval international relations in Central and Eastern Europe and the formation of autocratic ideology Grand Duchy of Moscow, Moscow kingdom and the Russian Empire was made in article. In view of that Rurik dynasty and related to them by women Romanovs had the beginnings from rulers of Kyivan Rus, Moscow grand dukes, kings and Petersburg emperors saw all the lands, that once belonged to it (mainly Ukrainian), as part of their historical heritage. Joining and later incorporation of Ukraine into the Russian Empire, from their point of view, was like returning of lost once patrimony. And the fact that Ukrainian and Belorussian lands formerly were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rus and Rzeczpospolita, or had their own political autonomy and time to develop a separate cultural, religious and public-political tradition, was seen as distortions caused by ostensibly forced distancing of these countries from the king. Leading Moscow and St. Petersburg intellectuals both conservative and liberal-democratic were able and can to argue about the nature of Russian nationality, but they never had the slightest doubt as to “russkost” of Ukrainian, Belarusian and Baltic lands. This view completely coincides with the official position of the Russian autocracy and is now the basis for the foreign policy strategy of Vladimir Putin. The aggressive and defi ant Russian behavior in the international arena has violated the sovereignty of Ukraine and its territorial integrity destroyed, ignored the basic rules and principles of international law and set architecture of European security and post-bipolar world order before serious challenges not seen since the Cold War. Thus, the problem of Ukraine’s national security went beyond its national borders and has become a regional and global dimension.