Allison K. Stanger

Since the alarming success of the neo-fascists in the December 1993
parliamentary elections, Russian foreign policy has again become a topic
of international concern. In December 1994, President Boris Yeltsin peti-
tioned the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) to
recognize the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as an interna-
tional organization charged with the responsibility of keeping the peace
in the former Soviet republics, now sovereign nations. This was, in
effect, a request for international endorsement of a Russian sphere of
influence spanning the territory of the former Soviet Union. The contro-
versial military intervention in Chechnya followed on the heels of
Yeltsin's petition. At the end of 1994, Yeltsin had also tabled Russia's
entry into NATO's Partnership for Peace, while warning NATO's current
members that expansion eastward would be viewed as a threat to Russ-
ian interests. ¹ Concurrently, Russia has weighed in rhetorically on the
side of the Serbs in the Balkan War and has exercised its veto power on
the UN Security Council to back up its strong words. ²

This change in external posture has been facilitated by institutional
reforms that reflect the conviction that reasserting Russian influence in the
former Soviet republics--the so-called "near abroad"--is at the top of
Russia's list of international priorities. Immediately after the October 1993
crackdown, the Russian Foreign Ministry was reorganized to concentrate
greater attention on relations with the Commonwealth of Independent
States and the former Eastern bloc. Further, in January 1994, a new Min-
istry of Cooperation with CIS states was created. Earlier discussions
revealed that its advocates viewed the ministry as the functional equiva-

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