Russia's soviet past still has influence today

In a presentation Thursday, Christopher Marsh, a Eurasian expert and political science professor from Baylor University, shared a survey of the major issues facing Russia and its neighbors, as well as the factors influencing current U.S.-Russia relations.

Marsh noted the Obama administration’s attempts at resetting U.S.-Russia relations.

However, the current situation in Russia is the result of a long process. For instance, current U.S.-Russia relations can be traced back to the U.S. intervention in the Russian Civil War in 1918.

“Everything that is going on today in Russian foreign policy and relations among the former Soviet states is not taking place in a vacuum. It has a long context,” Marsh said.

Additionally, many key individuals who worked in government and industry during the Cold War era still play key roles today, further complicating any attempt to reset relations, Marsh said.

“It’s not so easy to reset when you have personnel, established relationships and social networks that continue to permeate through these different organizations,” Marsh said.
To better understand the context in which Russia’s foreign relations now operate, Marsh examined the rough transition which took place after the collapse of the Soviet Union and played a significant role in Russia’s failure to operate as a fully democratic society.

Because of the difficulties involved in transitioning from an economy based on centralized planning to one based off market principles, the Russians experienced overwhelming economic distress, Marsh explained. That led to the election of many communist candidates, as the Russian people desired to return to the less chaotic days before the collapse.

The situation began to change in 2000 with the increase of oil and gas prices.

“Russia’s economic wealth, based on oil, is the centerpiece of its foreign policy,” Marsh said.

However, despite Russia’s vast oil reserves it is common for a family to spend 60 percent of their income to pay their utility bill each month, Marsh said.

Such high prices have a huge impact on the lives of Russian citizens and have led to widespread, coordinated protests across Russia.

“As strong as [Vladimir] Putin and [Dmitry] Medvedev are, there is dissent,” Marsh said.
An important issue for Russia is the perceived NATO encroachment into Russia’s periphery. Up to a point, Russia did not oppose NATO’s expansion.

“Admission of Ukraine and Georgia is qualitatively different in terms of the admissions of, say, Poland, or the Czech Republic, or Hungary, or even the Baltics,” Marsh said.

For instance, Marsh cited statistics which found that 80 percent of Russians believe that Russia would be threatened by Ukraine joining NATO.

However, Russia continues to exert enormous influence in the region despite NATO expansion.

“Ukrainian politics is very much affected by the price of Russian oil and natural gas being sold in the country, so they have to play nice,” Marsh said.

Although there are many dynamics at work in modern Russia, Marsh concluded that it is very important to try and understand the situation as best as possible.

“As Americans and our leaders look towards NATO expansion, look towards how to formulate foreign policy vis-a-vis Russia, and how to reset our relations, we need to have a deep understanding of how far rooted these different factors are,” Marsh said.

Contact Max Nelsen at max.nelsen@whitworthian.com.

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