Russia is faced with many security paradoxes, which are mostly derived from its geography. Since its heartland is indefensible, it was forced to rely on preventive offence and in an instance of being attacked in draining defense, which was based on the doctrine of strategic depth. Combination of both strategies made Russia expand its territory like no other state in the world. During my research, I have identified strategic regions, which are the key factor in the security of the Russian state. Those regions are the Caucasus, Baltic, Eastern Europe, Balkan, Central Asia and Siberia. With this expansion came its share of challenges, which pushed the vast state into underdevelopment and authoritarianism. Russia is ready to sacrifice almost anything for its security, but its geographic reality keeps trapping her in an infinite security dilemma, where an adequate level of security is unachievable. In the future, the Russian state will continue to be faced with the same geographic security challenges as in the past. Those will either be improved or made worse by the developments in geopolitics, technology and climate change.
|
