Russia’s Challenge to Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has shown that what has been viewed as Central and Eastern European countries’ Russophobia is in fact their sensitivity to the challenge or/and threat that Russia poses to its neighbors. The West, which until February 2022 has defined Russia as a partner or at best a problematic neighbor, has been repeatedly receiving signals that the Kremlin does not accept violations of its sphere of influence, the former USSR. Each time, they were ignored or downplayed. Author explains the background of Russia’s revisionist turn, which she claims is the key. Following the neorealist paradigm, she presents the factors that have led Russia to alter the post-Cold War order, challenge the West, and demand recognition of the post-Soviet area as its zone of exclusive interests.