"Russia tends to apply soft power quite selectively and pragmatically. In some cases, Russia’s sporadic usage of pro-democracy rhetoric is aimed at pressuring the leaders of adjacent countries and making them more compliant to Russian economic and security demands. Yet in questioning the democratic credentials of Ukraine under former President Viktor Yuschenko and Georgia under President Mikhail Saakashvili, Russia was playing a more complicated game: apart from exerting pressure upon the governments that resulted from the “colour revolutions,” the Kremlin was eager to demonstrate their mismatch with the European standards of democracy and thus to reproach both the EU and NATO for giving them support. The same goes for Russia’s devotion to democracy-grounded rhetoric in its relations with the three Baltic countries that is aimed at unveiling their adherence to “non-European” minority policies."
See the report: "Hard Questions About Soft Power: A Normative Outlook at Russia’s Foreign Policy (pdf)," ©D GAPanalyse kompakt, N. 7, October 2011
"The most recent study of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association presented recently in Berlin and Brussels explicitly anticipates that in the foreseeable future Ukraine can achieve status comparable to Norway's and Switzerland's in relations with the EU. The Polish EU presidency has definitely increased the chances of such a prospect." "The ruling elite in the Kremlin is too technocratic and pragmatic to sponsor other neighbouring countries without immediate payback; besides, the negative memories of the Soviet Union, which sponsored its allies until the complete disintegration of the system, are still alive."
Read the interview: "Kremlin 'Too Pragmatic' to Sponsor Neighbouring States," News.az, November 4, 2011
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