Contact Person: Dr des. Elena Kropatcheva

This PhD project analyses Russian policy towards Ukraine against the background of Russia’s competition with the West. The main purpose is to explain the motives of Russia’s conduct, its actions and their outcomes in respect to Ukraine. Russia’s Ukraine policy is studied from two perspectives: Russia’s economic policy and Russia’s policy towards Ukraine in the sphere of security. The period of analysis is from 2000, when Vladimir Putin became the president of the RF and began to change both domestic and foreign policy, until the March 2008 Russian presidential election.

In order to be able not only to describe but also to explain Russian foreign policy, the study endeavours to interpret it through the lenses of both rationalism and constructivism, which is a novel approach in the discipline of international relations. The study intends to serve as a comprehensive guide: It overviews the legacies of the past that continue to influence Russian-Ukrainian and Russian-Western relations, it analyses the main components of Russian policy towards Ukraine, and it considers how these relations will develop in the future. The methodologies employed include an analytical review of primary and secondary sources and semi-structured interviews with policy-makers and representatives of intellectual elites in Kiev and Moscow.

The PhD project was sponsored between 2004 and 2007 by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and concluded in 2008 with support from IFSH.