Russia and the Mediterranean

This article aims to explore these aspects, highlighting how, mutatis mutandis, Russian policy toward Mediterranean changed in strategies but not in objectives from the Tsarist period to today. The first part deals with the construction of the Romanov’s foreign politics toward the area, looking both at the need of securing their kingdom against a traditional enemy such as the Ottoman empire, and at the pursuit of finding a place in the Eastern Mediterranean in order to improve their international position. The second one analyses the Soviet attitude toward the basin: while the goals of the foreign politics remain the same of the Tsarist period, the strategies changed. Finally, the last part is touching on the Mediterranean interests of the Russian Federation, highlighting both how the Kremlin’s wars in Georgia and Ukraine reveals Moscow’s Mediterranean concerns and the new interpretation of a Russian “ very enlarged” Mediterranean.