Effect of eurasianism on Russian foreign policy during Vladimir Putin period

This study analyses the Eurasianism which is the basic foreign policy approach of Vladimir Putin elected as the Russian President at 2000 and its steps by considering on the changing events and periods. After the collapse of Soviet Union, the reforms that were planned for the integration of newly independents states to the international system resulted with a chaotic circumstance. After the unsuccessful attempts on the nation-building process of these states gave way to the autocratic and despotic regimes rather than embracing liberal values. Especially, liberal and pro-Western approaches were adopted within the first years of Russian Federation, however after the failure of reform progress, Boris Yeltsin decided on the nomination of Yevgeniy Primakov as a foreign minister and acceptance of Eurasianism on foreign policy which is a kind of reversion to Russian originality. The study examines Eurasianism, a Russian geopolitical approach, after evaluating geopolitical theories. Particularly, Eurasianism find a place for itself only after the end of Cold War because of the previous dominant ideologies that shaped Russian politics until that time. However, post-Cold War period cannot be regarded as the acceptance and the implementation of Eurasianism due to the internal and external dynamics of Russia. In this context, by the year of 2000, which Vladimir Putin took power can be considered as a starting point for Eurasianism. One should argue that Vladimir Putin could not implement a direct Eurasianist policy within the first years of his office due to the reconstruction process of Russia after the collapse of USSR along with the reform failures of Boris Yeltsin. In this period, Putin developed friendly relationships with Western countries in order to conclude the structural reforms properly. This period can be regarded as moderate Eurasianist period of him. However, abovementioned moderate period were only maintained until constructing its own internal structure. After its internal structure were improved, the second and last phase of Eurasianism, extremist Eurasianism found its own way on Russian foreign policy. As a result, this study commonly focused on the transformation of the phases of Russian Geopolitics and Putin's Eurasianism.