Russia is a multi-lingual, multi-ethic and multicultural state and this pushes Russian security elites to put an overwhelming stress on Russia’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty over all other concerns.

Russia’s objections to the primacy of the liberal western order also emanate from its peculiar political and cultural values. Unlike the developed western economies which are built on the capitalist values, Russian economy very much relies on the export of commodities in a semi-close economy, such as gas and oil. Unlike the Chinese model in which capitalist modernization process could go hand in hand with authoritarian state policies, Russia offers a particular example of illiberal societies in which the state is extremely involved in economics, social and political life.