PUTIN'S PRAGMATISM AND CHANGE IN THE APPROACHES OF RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been affected by intensifying regional and international developments than ever before. Because of new opportunities and threats caused by these developments, Russia faced with the problem of structural adoption whit systemic new realities, accompanying whit redefinition of its position and review of foreign policy approaches. Conceptual and institutional crisis on the one hand, and lack of realism toward these changes in Yeltsin’s era on the other hand, led to an incorrect understanding of environmental changes, lack of the ability for theorizing and passive and non-appropriate decisions. From the beginning of the presidency of Putin, a positive change in Russian foreign policy shaped, from idealism to realism, from instability to stability and from irrational approach to a rational one. This article shows that Putin’s pragmatic approach in foreign policy has the most influential effect on that positive change.