Russia’s Enhanced role in Eurasia: the ‘near abroad’ three decades on*
Journal: European Politics and Society
Year: 2022

Russian policy has become much more hostile to the West in the last decade. Did the West, much as President Putin has charged, attempt to constrain or contain Russian influence in its 'near abroad,' and, if so, were they successful in their efforts? It was Moscow's decision to pursue its own path, by not integrating into the West, that put it at odds with the West.Besides its military intervention in Georgia, by fall 2008 Russia had successfully warded off most Western attempts to tie several po