The foreign policy concept of the “Russian World” is one that hardliners have used to justify intervention abroad to support Russian speakers, such as in parts of Ukraine. It means that the idea is now enshrined in official policy, although it was presented as a soft power strategy. Ukraine makes real gains – live war updates The new policy stipulated that Moscow should further deepen its ties with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic – two breakaway entities in eastern Ukraine, where war continues to rage. He also said it should further strengthen its ties with Abkhazia and Ossetia, two Georgian regions recognized as independent by Moscow after the 2008 war against Georgia. And the policy said Russia should increase cooperation with Slavic nations, China and India, and further promote its ties in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. West Slavs are found in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia, East Slavs in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, while South Slavs are in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, some Eastern Bloc countries broke away from the USSR and became independent, but some 25 million ethnic Russians found themselves living outside of Russia. Putin called the collapse of the USSR the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe” and for years has highlighted what he sees as the tragic fate of these millions. It was one of his predecessors, Mikhail Gorbachev, who failed to prevent the breakup and died aged 91 last week. Read more: How Mikhail Gorbachev changed the course of history Can Ukraine take back the Kherson – and what would it mean? Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 2:12 Putin snubs Gorbachev’s funeral Moscow has continued to regard former Soviet territories, from the Baltics to Central Asia, as its legitimate sphere of influence – an idea strongly opposed by many of those countries as well as the West. The new policy states that the Russian Federation “provides support to its compatriots living abroad in the fulfillment of their rights, to ensure the protection of their interests and the preservation of their Russian cultural identity.” He said that Russia’s ties with its compatriots abroad allowed it to “reinforce on the international stage its image as a democratic country striving to create a multipolar world.”
