Russia and the West — The Foreign Policy Perspective

Abstract

Russia’s relations with the West have been at the heart of Russian political philosophy and Russia’s foreign policy for centuries. This chapter reviews the history of Russia’s post-Cold War relations with other Arctic states, especially Norway. Relations with Norway tend to follow the wider fluctuations in Russian foreign policy: openness to Western influence in the early post-Cold War years; a resurgence of scepticism and suspicion in the years straddling the transition to the 21st century, followed by the pragmatism of the 2000s. Based on new empirical evidence from the public discourse in Russia, this chapter engages with the Russian idea that the West is trying to encircle Russia in the Arctic.