Cordon sanitaire

The issue of re-establishing a cordon around Russia


   The policy pursued in a number of neighboring Russia at the end of XX - beginning of XXI century, has caused - particularly in Russia itself - multiple comparisons and direct comparisons with the policy of "cordon sanitaire" of the sample 1920 and 1930.

   Thus, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that now "faced with the fact that it is difficult to perceive as other than reestablishment of a cordon sanitaire west of the borders of Russia ..." Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that "not all but some Eastern European states "mladoevropeytsy" now essentially function as a cordon. Similar views were expressed by Anatoly Chubais, Pavel Borodin and others

   Commentators agree that the cordon sanitaire is under active construction and advanced deep into the post-Soviet space, while some of them are convinced that the "cordon" has been created and is a reality, and the remaining assume the completion of its construction threatened the immediate future.