DOI: 10.25136/2409-8671.2023.1.39954

Abstract: The object of this study is contemporary Russian-Latin American relations. The influence of the current international context related to the crisis around Ukraine on Russia's strategic partnerships (SP) with a number of Latin American states is considered in detail. The first part reveals the specifics of this relationship format. The second part analyzes the dynamics of the dialogue with Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Peru and Ecuador, depending on the depth of the impact on them of the confrontation between Russia and the West after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. In conclusion, the work highlights similarities and differences in the lines of conduct of Russia's Latin American strategic partners in today's conflicting international political conditions. This study is one of the first attempts to comprehend the effects of the Ukrainian crisis on the state and possible future of strategic partnerships between Russia and nations of the LAC region. A new look at the issue, involving systematic approach and case study method, which allows analyzing and including each national example of bilateral strategic partnership in the broader context of the dialogue between the Russian Federation and Latin America, determines the author's contribution. Main conclusions are as follows. First, although the reaction of Russia's strategic partners to the Ukrainian crisis and its global consequences varies, their common desire to maintain the momentum of mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia is noticeable. Secondly, within strategic partnerships, one can single out a material and symbolic components, and it is on the second that the complication of the international context has hit the hardest. Finally, the current situation clearly requires Russia to revise its Latin American strategy, the first step of which could just be a rethinking of the SP format.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8671.2018.2.19446

Abstract: The object of the present study is influence of foreign soft power on the Republic of Belarus (RB) as one of the States of the former Soviet Union.   The subject of the study is unique features of the strategies of RB's involvement into the area of their "soft power" influence by such intra- and extra-regional actors of the former Soviet Union as Russia and the European Union (particularly Poland and Lithuania). The author analyzes the peculiarities of projects of the above-mentioned countries (a group of countries) on Belarus’ value and ideology involvement into the orbit of their "soft-power" influence; and subsequently characterizes the tools of such influence. The study uses methods of general logic and methods of international relations science such as historical and comparative. The author also uses method of statistical data procession. The novelty of the study lies in definition of the civilizational and ideological prerequisites for the RB's involvement into the orbit of foreign "soft-power" influence, as well as in identification of the reasons for Russian "soft power" inefficiency with respect to the Belarusian direction, and a certain mechanism for its correction is proposed. The author comes to the conclusion that Belarus is currently in the midst of Russian-European "soft-power" rivalry in a broad sense of the term. However, such a national "soft-power" influence as, for example, by Poland is not congruent with the European one in content and objectives, but represents a separate phenomenon that Russia should take into account. The Russian "soft power" in the Belarusian direction is well institutionalized, but its conceptual content requires updating, on the one hand, due to the current state of relations between the two States and the spiritual and intellectual demands of new generations of Belarusian society, and, on the other hand, because in the current environment the European civilizational and ideological projects constitute a very viable alternative to the Russian world.