MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. Russia's stake on soft power as a means to meet the demand for stabilization in the region and mutually beneficial economic processes may turn out to be an effective strategy for countering subversive Western activities in the CIS space, polled experts told TASS on Friday.
Political scientist Kirill Koktysh, an assistant professor at the political theory department of the MGIMO University, drew attention to the idea Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov voided earlier on Friday to the effect the West was pushing ahead with attempts to set the peoples of the former Soviet Union against each other by means of biased interpretations of history.
The example of Ukraine is indicative of how "fantastically productive" such efforts by Western countries can be, he remarked.
"We can see that in almost all post-Soviet countries, except for Belarus, such technologies succeed. By and large this is a fairly old method of cognitive control, cognitive programming," he continued. "Britain actually keeps the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine under manual control. It keeps adding fuel to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and stepping up its presence in Central Asia. All this is official information, obtained on the basis of visits, statements, the British presence, the supply of weapons and equipment, and the presence of NGOs. This is measurable activity."
Koktysh is certain that Russia needs a relevant strategy to counter this subversive activity by the West in the CIS space, so as to retain a say as a key actor in regional processes. Such a strategy might envisage practical work in accordance with the "soft power" concept, which implies the achievement of goals in the international arena through voluntary participation and persuasion. For example, through the opening of language centers, non-profit organizations and other cultural and public institutions.
"As for our hard power, such as the condition of the armed forces, everything is in order, but the soft power resources leave much to be desired. In this regard, we need an understanding of how to provide a response to all this is at the ideological level, at the level of concepts. There is no such understanding for now. Moreover, such a task has not been set to this day," Koktysh stressed.
Future concept’s basis
The general director of the Russian International Affairs Council, Andrey Kortunov, in turn, pointed to the existing groundwork for devising a "soft power concept, which will bring approaches closer and outline future discussions that will identify the parameters and formats for further cooperation."
"Now the situation, of course, is no easy for all countries. There is the such sanction pressure on Russia and the CIS states do not want to become targets for secondary sanctions the West may resort to. As we can see, these countries vote differently in international organizations. Some of them share traditionally good relations with Ukraine," Kortunov said. "Therefore, there are many nuances involved, but in general, everyone is interested to see the situation get back to normal as soon as possible when it will be possible to have mutually beneficial political and economic relations [with Russia]".
The expert is certain that despite some minor rifts the CIS countries have "a great deal in common."
"Therefore, it would not be unreasonable to expect that these countries will quarrel more often than not. True, their relations will be difficult, but they have been like this for the past 30 years," Kortunov concluded.