Russian position in the world politics at the beginning of the 21st century - The Break up of bipolarity, the comming of a new world (dis)order and Russian influence in the post-soviet area

At the end of 1990s, the Russian state eroded, losing its power and the ability to perform elementary functions of government. The process of the "wild privatisation" of state-owned property during 1990s favored certain oligarchic groups, the state itself lost its possibility to create any meaningful long-term strategy. With hindsight it's hardly possible to consider President Jeltsin's era a big success. After Vladimir Putin became the President of the Russian Federation, the situation in the country has changed fundamentally. Russian economy is getting stronger, peoples" pride of being Russians is growing and Russia is ready again to be one of the decisive participants in the world politics at the beginning of the 21st century. Author is deeply convinced that it wouldn't be objective to consider the present situation in international relations to be "unipolar" despite of some states1efforts to do so. Russia is ready to promote its idea of multipolarism - the role of the United Nations is viewed as a keystone of present and future world politics. To promote such ideas, Russian Federation had to strengthen its positions in "near abroad" - from the point of view of the Russian foreign policy strategy, the consolidation of Russia's influential positions in the post-soviet space was a must in the connection of..