The Kremlin’s Geopolitics Playbook

In this chapter, Grigas provides an update on Russian foreign policy vis- à-vis its near abroad following Russia’s 2022. As a follow up to her book, Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire (Yale, 2016), Grigas discusses her proposed framework to analyze Russian foreign policy: the Seven-Stage Reimperialization Trajectory. An analysis of events in Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Kazakhstan is provided. Grigas discussed the academic and foreign policy response to the Russian invasion of 2022 and 2014 and the accompanying debate between “Realists” and “Russo-realists.”