Who is not an enemy and not a friend to us – Newspaper Kommersant No. 26 (7471) of 02/11/2023
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Russia maintains good relations with at least eight out of 14 neighboring countries, according to the friendliness rating of the communication regimes of neighboring countries, presented on Friday by the Moscow-based National Research Institute for the Development of Communications (NIIRK). This is not always the merit of politicians, experts explain: a lot depends on the general traditionally good attitude of the population towards neighbors. But this won’t get you far, warn the authors of the study: in some countries, additional efforts may be required to develop communications.
On February 10, NIIRK presented the results of the annual monitoring of the friendliness of the communication regimes of Russia’s neighboring countries. Studies were conducted on 14 countries, eight of them were recognized as friendly, and four fell into the category of outright enemies: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. Two more, Georgia and Moldova, are considered relatively friendly states.
“The friendliness of the communication regime was assessed by experts as the sum of the conditions and rules of cross-country communication,” explained Valentina Komleva, Deputy Director of NIIRK, presenting the results of the study. Not only the political component was taken into account, but also the general attitude of the population towards Russia. Domestic and foreign experts analyzed a total of 68 indicators, such as freedom of movement, attitudes towards the Russian language, economic ties, scientific and cultural communications, voting at the UN, etc.
Compared to the previous year, all rating participants remained in their places, but in the context of the NWO and the strengthening of Western anti-Russian sanctions, the polarization of “friendliness” and “unfriendliness” has intensified, the authors of the study note. In addition, they record increased control over information content and communication channels. The institutions of civil society are losing their subjectivity and more and more integrated into the system of political interests of the elites, the pressure on religious organizations is getting stronger.
Belarus has been and remains the undisputed leader of the rating: high scores were received by the union state in all types of communication, with the exception of interaction at the level of non-profit organizations (NPOs). But these are the costs of Russian legislation, since Belarusian organizations are now subject to the legislation on foreign NGOs, the expert notes.
An improvement in the dynamics of relations with such friendly countries as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan has been recorded. But Armenia and Kazakhstan fell into the group of “fluctuating regimes” – there the history of relations with Russia is beginning to be revised and the conditions for the development of communications are likely to change for the worse, experts warn. However, much will depend on Russia’s ability to choose the right communication strategies. In some countries, a good attitude towards Russia is reproduced by inertia, Valentina Komleva noted, but this inertia is gradually drying up and additional efforts are required to maintain good relations.
Experts also note an improvement in relations with Georgia, which has refused to join the sanctions against Russia and is expanding opportunities for economic cooperation. It is important to take advantage of this window of opportunity, they stress. At the same time, Moldova is following the path of worsening communication conditions, the authors of the study state.
According to political scientist Yevgeny Minchenko, the rating can be useful for politicians in their practical work, because this visual picture is worth hundreds of volumes. “It is immediately clear what should be paid attention to, what tools to use, what directions to focus on,” he said. Aleksey Petrov, Deputy Head of the Department for Relations with Compatriots of Rossotrudnichestvo, agrees that the rating is of an applied nature: the NIIRK study will certainly be used in the work. He recalled that a subdivision has been created in the structure of his department that monitors violations of the rights of the Russian-speaking population, and the Foreign Ministry annually prepares a report on this topic. In turn, Svetlana Voronina, presented as an employee of the presidential administration, admitted that practical tips are also expected from experts: it is important that scientific institutions develop a strategy for further actions. “It is clear that we are relying on the past,” said Mrs. Voronina. “We have a heroic one, but you yourself say that it is starting to subside. I would like us to look to the future.”
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