Russia and the Humanitarian Intervention Debate

This paper focuses on the development of the understanding and the attitudes towards “Humanitarian Intervention” term and policy in Russia in post-Cold War period, i.e. 1990-2017. This report shows both the internal and the external debate on Russian approaches and practices of Humanitarian Intervention. It draws on academic articles, official documents and official statements and interviews of Russian policymakers in Russian and English that discuss and\or criticize the approaches of Russian policymakers towards the explanation and application of Humanitarian Intervention, as performed by the International Community with Russian participation and\or Russia alone. This research highlights the existing “twist of terms” in current Russian foreign policy regarding all issues related to humanitarian intervention both as term and as a policy tool and explains the discrepancies and misunderstandings in ongoing national and international political discourse on the Russian policymakers’ interpretation of the concept that leads to the specifics of its application in fragile and conflict-driven areas. The paper suggests further exploration of international with attempts of application of Humanitarian Intervention concept with Russian on-ground involvement, as well as a further interdisciplinary methodological research.