Abstract

Russian foreign policy in Central and Eastern Europe in the post-Cold War period followed the track of the evolution of its general foreign policy strategy. After the Second World War countries of Central and Eastern Europe were either Soviet republics or fell under the sphere of interests of the USSR. The following dissolution of the socialist bloc and the Soviet Union itself resulted in fundamental geopolitical changes in the region, erasing the solid military and political frontier that divided Europe on the borders of the GDR, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. The geopolitical configuration of Central and Eastern Europe is what makes this region especially important for Russian foreign policy. Its intermediate position in between Russia and the Euro-Atlantic makes it an arena for either cooperation or rivalry between the two power centers on the continent. Academic debates on issues of Russian foreign policy today are overly politicized. It is not clear so far how soon the academic sphere will break free from the extremes of the emotional load that is caused by the major conflict between Russia and the West over the Ukraine.