![]() Therefore, in theory, the new Russian military could still muster the strength to fight on the global stage. The military played a geopolitical role in these domestic conflicts, but in reality, the Soviet military forces that Yeltsin inherited were built “to fight and win an all-out global war.” 7 And during the fall 1993 constitutional crisis, the army backed then-President Boris Yeltsin in his standoff against the Duma (parliament). In the August 1991 putsch (attempt to overthow) against then-President Mikhail Gorbachev, Communist hardliners were defeated because the army refused to back them. The military played a key role in Russian politics in the 1990s, a role that Kremlin leaders had to take to heart. Rebuilding the Military-and Defining Threats As Russia expert and former head of Russia and Eurasia program and Chatham House James Scherr writes, “There is now an uncommon degree of political-military integration in pursuit of Russia's state objectives, its commitment to state and national mobilization, and its approach to peace, crisis, and war.” 6 The role of the military and security services-and militarism-has therefore been crucial in Russian domestic and foreign policy during the Putin's two decades in power. In turn, this aspiration required restoring Russian military power. ![]() This vision required a growing Russian presence regionally and globally. It is a narrative, in which citizens existed primarily “as a resource for wars.” 5Īs a result, a toxic brew emerged-a cultivation of militant and anti-Western patriotism, Soviet nostalgia, and religious orthodoxy. He revived the longstanding historical narrative of Russia as a besieged fortress surrounded by enemies (chiefly Western ones). Putin used the argument for security and the social unrest from the apartment bombings to legitimize his regime and to link military and political initiatives with domestic and foreign threats. Indeed, securitization propelled Putin into power in the first place, starting with the mysterious 1999 apartment bombings in Moscow, Volgodonsk, and Buynaksk, which resulted in over 300 deaths and many wounded Russians themselves found evidence that suggested Russia's security services orchestrating the bombings, a suspicion that remains to this day. This definition stood in contrast to democratization of the 1990s and as a reaction to this decade. Russia, as Arkady Ostrovsky observed, “is an idea-centric country,” 2Īnd Putin's regime crafted the country's national idea in terms of security. His words foreshadowed the role the military and militarization narratives would play in the Kremlin's designs to restore Russia's image as a great power at home and abroad. ![]() Whether intentionally or not, his comments captured how he saw the Russia he inherited, and what Russia he wanted to see. He emphasized, “From time immemorial, Russia has been a victorious country.” 1 ![]() ![]() You lifted up a devastated country, rebuilt it anew,” Vladimir Putin told the veterans. “You not only destroyed the enemy and won. Every year, May 9 commemorates the surrender of Nazi Germany, one of the most important holidays in Russia. On May 9, 2000, the Russian Federation's newly inaugurated president, Vladimir Putin, met with World War II veterans. ![]()
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