Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire

To date Russia has sought out existing international organizations and created ones of its own to pursue the issue of violations of human rights of Russian compatriots. Among international organizations, Russia raised and faced the issue of human rights violations in the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Council, the OSCE, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights.⁴² Russia was particularly vocal in denouncing the alleged human rights violations of the Baltic States and also tried to hinder their accession to such international organizations as the Council of Europe and the European Union.⁴³ However, these attempts were largely unsuccessful as various commissions concluded that the three Baltic countries were in fact complying with all human rights standards.⁴⁴ Possibly the most important Russian organization working on human rights is the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation (IDC), established in 2007 and funded by “private donors” who remain absolutely clandestine.⁴⁵ Headquartered in New York, this NGO is officially described as a “non-governmental think-tank dedicated to analyzing, defining, and promoting mutual understanding between Russia and the United States.”⁴⁶ The Institute publishes reports of human rights violations in Western democracies, such as The State of Human Rights in the U.S. (October 2013). Its Paris branch focuses on “the relationship between state sovereignty and human rights,” “interpretation of human rights and the way they are applied in different countries,” and “the way in which historical memory is used in contemporary politics.”⁴⁷ The organization’s research had a geopolitical tone in 2013, 2014, and 2015 with pieces like “The West’s Post-Modernism and the New Cultural Cold War,” “The Geopolitics of New Multipolarity,” “The United Nations Report Is Neither Realistic Nor Credible” (regarding the UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria), and “Ideology and Geopolitics in Two Cold Wars.”⁴⁸ In contrast to Russia’s own agenda of criticizing human rights conditions in the United States or the EU, a number of respected, international organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemn Russia for mistreatment of ethnic minorities within its borders.

Russian humanitarian policies have also taken on military under-tones, especially with Russian peacekeeping operations. Especially in the cases of Georgia and arguably Tajikistan, which are discussed in later chapters, these operations have served as a means for Russia to establish its long-term military presence and create military bases in foreign territories under the pretext of protecting Russian compatriots or other minorities.

In summary, Russian humanitarian policies are a means of increasing Russian influence outside the Russian Federation and are closely tied to Russian soft power, compatriot policies, and propaganda campaigns. However, they have generally but mistakenly been viewed as outside the scope of Russian territorial aims and reimperialization efforts. This road map of the reimperialization trajectory demonstrates how these interconnected, softer policies all lead to Moscow’s efforts for military protection of Russian compatriots and control of the territories where they reside.

STAGE 3: COMPATRIOT POLICIES