Reasons for Russian-Western conflict

In the current situation of tense relations between Russia and the Western world, many analysts and experts try to find a reason for such a confrontation. According to Sergei Mikheyev, deputy chairman of the Editorial Board of Vestnik Kavkaza, after the collapse of the Soviet Union the West had a unique historical opportunity to create a system of fundamentally new relations with Russia and the former states of the Soviet Union, and generally create a more harmonious model of leadership. First and foremost, this was a historic opportunity for the Americans, but they missed it.

“That it was we, in Moscow, who solved the main geopolitical problem of the 20th century for the West. The Soviet Union did not exist any longer. Moscow expected that the historic step would be properly estimated by the West, and the West would build some quite fundamentally different system of relations in the world. But this did not happen,” Mikheyev thinks.

He compares the Western countries with a small shopkeeper: “They just started to grab everything that was badly settled, to spread their expansion and impact to the maximum number of countries, and Russia was consigned the role of the vanquished, the role of a country which has no more right to protect itself and even in general to have its own interests. And this situation created new tensions in relations between Russia and the West.”

According to Mikheyev, Russia suffered such a situation for at least 15 years. “But it was obvious to those who were seriously involved in politics that such a situation could not last forever. That is, Russia sooner or later would be faced with the dilemma of whether we fight for our interests, or do we just gradually disappear from the world map? I think the tension that has arisen today in that sense was absolutely unavoidable,” the political analyst is sure.

Speaking about the image of the Russian President in the West, Sergei Mikheyev notes that “many in the West believe Putin to be an aggressive politician. Most often it is cunning or completely unprofessional opinions on the situation in Russia. Putin and almost all his entourage are people who entered the new management team after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin and all who were with him were, in general, Westerners, at least at the time of the 1990s. The Russian elite was awaiting understanding for a long time. There was an enormous amount of hope for all, from ordinary people to big politicians, for the West, the fact that the West would offer some new model of relations. The trust in the West was enormous in the 1990s.”

However, the political scientist says that the West could not justify the credibility that existed in Russia. “As a result, even the Russian elite towards the end of the 1990s began to understand a simple thing that the West respects only strength, that only a strong person can defend his own interests, and there is no other way. This understanding was painful. Many rejected it painfully, many, maybe didn't even want such an intense conflict with the West. But there was simply no other way. It was quite obvious that it is necessary to defend our own interests some way. If they do not want to take into account our needs, it means we will defend them. And this, unfortunately, determined the growth of tension in relations with the West,” Sergei Mikheyev concludes.