Andrey Areshev: Russia to become more active and effective in the CIS countries

The Deputy Director General of the Foundation for Strategic Culture, Andrei Areshev, responded to the questions of "Vestnik Kavkaza."

The expert said that the victory of Vladimir Putin did not resolve the critical
problems faced by Russian society: "I am talking about corruption,
ineffective governance, demographic and social problems - all this will
have to be solved, and the more adequately they are articulated, the
better for all," the expert said.


As to what to expect from Putin in connection with the CIS and
foreign policy in post-Soviet space, Andrei Areshev recalled
that last year Putin announced the creation of quite an ambitious
project - the Eurasian Union."The Eurasian Union is meant to
strengthen the relationships between Russia and its CIS neighbors,
immediate neighbors, as well as political, economic and humanitarian
ties. I think the close attention of Russia to its neighbors will
continue to grow - and we are already seeing the dynamics of the
events taking place in the direction of the South Caucasus and
Central Asia. After all, these regions generate a lot of threats to
Russia's security. In particular, in this context, we can talk about
Central Asia and the Caucasus, which, as we know, are fraught with
various challenges," Andrei Areshev said.



The idea of Putin might become successful if "Russia is able to offer
an attractive model of interaction with its neighbors, with its CIS
partners, or will attempt to beat the US and the West on their own
ideological, cultural and humanitarian fields."