The Price of Wishful Thinking. The Policy of the West towards Russia
Journal: Studia z Dziejów Rosji i Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej
Year: 2026

The article analyses the West’s policy towards Russia after 1991. The author argues that the Western hopes for the democratisation and ‘civilisation’ of Russia were an illusion. As a result, policies based on wishful thinking failed completely – culminating in Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2022. The West believed that after the collapse of the USSR, Russia would become democratic, stable, and predictable. There were hopes for a ‘partnership for peace’ and integration (‘from Lisbon to Vl