The rising security concerns of the Russian Federation towards the West until its annexation of the Crimea

This study aims to argue the rising Russian security concerns and dilemmas towards the West due to Western powers' political attitudes against the Russian Federation starting from the end of the Cold War and until the annexation of the Crimea by the Russia in 2014, from the Russian perspective. The fundamental research question of this study with analyzing Russian perspective is whether the main reason for rising Russian security concerns and dilemmas towards the West and aggressiveness of foreign policy of Russia has resulted from the careless and irrational policies of the West towards Russia. Therefore, to understand these issues, literature review is used as the main method. Definition of security concept, security dilemma theory within the framework of defensive realism and scrutinizing security perceptions of states are chosen as theoretical background. From the Russian perspective, The Russian Federation attitudes against inconsiderate and unreasonable policies of Western powers' towards her within the framework of security perceptions of states are analyzed, by using primary and prominent resources. Furthermore, turning points and chronic problems, such as Kosovo Intervention of NATO, the enlargement policy of NATO and Ukraine's membership attempts at NATO, between the West and the Russian Federation are chosen to scrutinize the main reasons of growing Russian security concerns towards the West. At the end of this study, it is argued that the aggressiveness of Russian foreign policy and rising Russian security concerns and dilemmas towards the West are a consequence of Western powers' irrational and careless policies towards Russian Federation after the end of the Cold War.