Russia and the former Soviet foreign countries as a system

In the past few years, representatives of the Russian leadership at various levels indicate the post-Soviet space as a foreign policy priority for Moscow. Experts see several reasons for this. First, in the former USSR there are vital interests of Russia in the field of economy, defense and security. Second, cooperation with post-Soviet states may be a factor in opposition to the centrifugal tendencies in Russia. But for the unification of the states we need to develop new integration ideology.

Yefim Pivovar, Rector of the RSUH, corresponding member of Russian Academy of Sciences, speaks on Russia and the post-Soviet countries as a system:

"Why is it that this system actually takes place? There is a common heritage. Examples are numerous, and to share this heritage is often not possible. I will give just one example: in the next year we will celebrate the bicentennial of Taras Shevchenko. Just recently in Kiev, in the Taras Shevchenko Museum, which was created in one of the mansions of the largest Ukrainian manufacturers of the past, the agreement between the State Humanitarian University and this museum to prepare this celebration was signed; by the way, now it appears that it will be much more widely celebrated. But this is, no doubt, the history of Ukrainian culture, and the cultural history of Russia, and of course, the cultural history of Kazakhstan, because Shevchenko not only lived there but was one of the founders of realistic painting of Kazakhstan, one of the first who portrayed Kazakhs. This is represented in this museum. If we talk about his literary heritage, a significant portion of his prose is written in Russian. Therefore no doubt this is a communal heritage. This is a common heritage of a political, cultural, mental and personal nature. Therefore, in this hall, and indeed in the whole of our country, in Russia and in the whole system of the Russian Federation – in the post-Soviet foreign countries, most of the older generation and many of the middle generation actually have a common personal experience of living within the system.

The second factor, besides historical heritage, is labor and labor flows. In fact, we have thousands, millions in diasporas in all these countries, including the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and so on, you can continue. These diasporas interact, co-exist, and in the integration process, which I will describe a little later, they can still grow, can be modified, but they exist. Another factor, though it is a bit like shagreen leather, is the economic division of labor. Indeed, if we now look at the integration processes in the economy, investment of financial resources in each other's economy, the divisions of labor in the production cycle are not so large-scale as, say, in many models such as the European Union or ASEAN. But still this element exists, and most importantly, there is a huge amount of resources that can enlarge it.

Finally, there is the humanitarian component of the system. Many countries and cultures invest a huge amount of their resources in the period of their promotion all over the world. How does France expand or even retain the francophone world? How does Spain expand and strengthen the Iberian space? How is China now doing through the Confucius Institute and other programs expanding Chinese influence? In this system all this is already done. The problem is not so much to do it but to preserve the existing situation. Unfortunately, we are not succeeding in this sense. I think that even many decision-makers do not understand how this is advantageous, when it already exists, and we only need to use it in the interests of all.

When we talk about this system, of course, we are not talking about the fact that it can be used as a kind of model for a provocative call for a revival or restoration of what existed until 1991. On the contrary, its development in the last 20-30 years has shown that this is of course impossible, moreover, it is developing in an entirely different direction. But these advantages that we have, unfortunately, we do not use.

Huge, titanic shifts occurred in this system – both in terms of political structures and in terms of party building, and in parliamentary terms, and in terms of interaction with the outside world in the cultural field, and integration into the global political, economic, cultural space, etc. These changes are very important and interesting, and they cannot be ignored. They show that in this process the system, its components are playing an increasingly active role in world politics, in the world, given the geopolitical changes that are happening in the world, when in the geopolitical situation around the world very much depends on a small country.

What do I mean speaking of these integration processes? This is the participation in the United Nations, in all its structures, in which all these countries having acquired sovereignty are involved, in all European structures, from the OSCE to the Council of Europe, including Nato and the European Union, etc. This, of course, is the participation in regional structures or structures based on religion - for example, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or the Black Sea regional organizations, the Organization of Caspian States, the list is very long. Finally, there is a huge number of structures that have emerged within the system: there is the structure of the CIS, and structures associated with the CSTO, say, the structure of the Eurasian Economic Community, the structures, where some part of the system is involved, and some are not, like GUAM or, conversely, the SCO, where another party is involved, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. There are many different organizations.

Finally, this process of integration within the system - it would seem that above all it occurs in the economic field. When we talked about it in the 90s, it was considered that this would never happen and that economic integration and especially political integration are impossible. However, this occurred. It is not only the Customs Union, which, of course, is gaining momentum not easily, because there are great limitations on each participant and it is a major commitment. This is the free trade zone - for five countries included in this free trade zone. These, of course, are other economic integration processes. This is the parliamentary dimension, because we already speak not only of the Union between Russia  and Belarus and Russia - the Belarus Union Parliament, but already on the Parliamentary Assembly of the EurAsEC, and we are talking about a possible Parliamentary Assembly of the Eurasian Union in the future. Finally, this is the first supranational economic structures of integration such as the first commission originated this year. Well, and of course, the most important thing is a gradual, step-by-step, slow strengthening of the position of so-called "soft power."