Daniela Vieira Secches, Fabiano P. Mielniczuk Special Issue – Contemporary Russia in Internaonal Relaons – Introducon

Special Issue – Contemporary Russia in

International Relations – Introduction

Dossiê – Rússia Contemporânea nas Relações

Internacionais – Introdução

Dossier – Rusia Contemporánea en las Relaciones

Internacionales – Introducción

Daniela Vieira Secches1

tional politics. Due to the unprecedented nature of what was instantly

called a “full scale invasion” or a “war of aggression” by NATO allies, the

irrelevance conferred to Russia in the last decades gave place to a promi-

nent role in world aairs. Like it or not, it seems that Russia’s continental

size, abundant wealth in natural resources, military prowess and long

history as a diplomatic broker are once again making the headlines of

de. This is the context of this special issue of Estudos Internacionais.

Nonetheless, in spite of these eorts, Russia’s conciliatory discourse

was not recognized by the West. The Western State’s lack of political will

country’s military revival ensured that the self-image Russia was trying

to sell about herself was not convincing. The consequent lack of sup-

port for Russia’s leaders resulted in social animosity against the West.

Neocommunists and ultranationalists, both political groups with clear

er annexation of Crimea in 2014 appears to only conrm this tendency.

The “emulation-confrontation” dichotomous relationship with the

West needs to be qualied. Domestically, Russia passes through a process

of consolidating an alternative statehood project in the new millennium.

Its signicant economic growth in the early 2000s, driven by oil and gas

dividends, and the arrival of Vladimir Putin to power served as the start-

ing point for a series of reforms. The growth of the Russian economy

leveraging his popular support. In the scope of security and defense, the

Beslan attacks in 2004.

At the international level, the 21st century witnesses an interna-

itics, security, economics, health and environment, contemporary inter-

national politics challenges the eld of International Relations when it de-

undeniable deterioration, China’s economic projection still does not seem

to be a sucient element for Beijing to take its place as the sole pole in the

international system, nor does China show interest in proposing its own

namics of dispute for power-generating capabilities. Moreover, the North

Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expansion into Eastern Europe

and the deconstruction of the nuclear deterrence architecture are ele-

ments strongly present in the Russian narrative about the escalation in

order and is a central element in relativizing the Kremlin’s isolation. The

as “limitless” also reects deeper revisionist tendencies in the face of the

Daniela Vieira Secches, Fabiano P. Mielniczuk Special Issue – Contemporary Russia in Internaonal Relaons – Introducon

conict contributes to accelerating deglobalization movements already

underway in the context of the economic-nancial crisis of 2008 and the

2020 Covid-19 pandemics. Added to this, the demand for a more robust

international cooperation on climate change may also be impacted by

the cleavages fostered in the context of the escalation of tensions and the

imposition of international sanctions.

Therefore, it is worth noting that today’s International Relations

scholars face a world full of paradoxes. On the one hand, we have never

However, diversifying academic production on such a complex topic can

their views on contemporary Russia may advance alternative perspec-

tives on the current crisis.

This special edition invited authors to incorporate two dimensions

temporary foreign policy; and (2) the context of escalating tensions in

the Ukrainian crisis, in 2022. The three articles that were approved for

publication share a common concern with empirical analysis and the

the complex and multifaceted phenomenon that this edition intends to

The relations between Russia and Asia are the central theme of

the contribution Sino-Russian Energy Cooperation in the Post-Cold War (2000-

César Cunha Leite and Cristina Carvalho Pacheco. In their piece, they

sion. Energy is taken as the cornerstone of relations between Moscow

thors investigate the Asian turn of Russian foreign policy with a focus

on its rapprochement not only with China, but, especially, with other

Southeast Asian powers. In doing so, the article is premised on the multi-

polar reality of the contemporary international order and problematizes

towards the continent as a stage for its global projection.

the Graduate Program in Social Sciences in Development, Agriculture

and Society (CPDA), at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro

(UFRRJ), analyzes topics such as agribusiness, family farming, food se-

review on Russian agri-food production.

The special edition Contemporary Russia in International Relations

fullls, then, its objective of expanding the perspective on Russian in-

ternational insertion in the scholarship of International Relations, in-

volving researchers from the Global South in problematizing the topic.

Furthermore, by focusing on relations with Asia, this edition of Revista