ARTICLE: Russia’s statelets game (sofiaecho.com)

Leading Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev, in a brilliantly perceptive balance sheet on the political fallout of the August 2008 Russia-Georgia war published on the openDemocracy website, said that the Kremlin’s revisionism is the outcome of Moscow’s growing insecurity.

"The Russia of Vladimir Putin fears at the same time territorial disintegration and the loss of global relevance. Both of these fears are legitimate," Krastev said."

The ultimate objective of the Kremlin’s current foreign policy is that if it cannot be strong, Russia should not look weak. In Putin’s words, ‘Russia will either be a great power or it will not be at all’," according to Krastev.

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