The Strategic Culture of the Russian Federation during Vladimir Putin’s Rule

Abstract

Strategic culture represents a relatively new research perspective in the study of international relations. It has been noted in scholarly discourse that strategic culture represents an opportunity to understand and explicate the behaviour of states in the international environment. We view strategic culture as a system of culturally-determined values, influencing foreign policy and national security decision-making. The purpose of this article is to analyse the strategic culture of the Russian Federation and, in particular, to discuss its geopolitical dimension during Vladimir Putin’s rule, which is linked to other components, including the besieged fortress syndrome, the idea of collecting Rus lands, the myth of the Third Rome, or the concepts of Russia–Eurasia and the Rus mir. The geopolitical aspect in the Russian strategic culture is a peculiar combination of two opposing dimensions  – the material and the immaterial. On the one hand, space is a strictly physical element; a constituent part of the state is a territory with defined borders. On the other hand, Russian decision-makers have given it a metaphysical character; there is a visible sacralisation of the spatial factor among the population. Vladimir Putin’s policy is determined by history and geopolitics, and the main objective of his actions is the restitution of Russia’s imperial power and the renewal of Russian influence in the world. The essential feature of the policy created by Putin is a kind of revanchism, the militarisation of the state and society, and the cult of force and war. The strategic culture of the Russian Federation is heavily influenced by the Russian geopolitical thought and historicism. Russia’s war against Ukraine after 2014 is a classic example of the influence of strategic culture on the current policy of the Russian state. In the perception of Russian political elites, Ukraine, dubbed Little Russia, appears as a fundamental component of the Russian Empire. The emergence of an independent Ukraine was seen as an existential threat to the Russian imperial identity. Thus, Vladimir Putin’s policy aimed at the complete subjugation of Ukraine or the resolution of the Ukrainian question by force. It is part of Russia’s strategic culture to deny not only Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence, but also the distinctiveness of the Ukrainian people.