The Russian-Georgia conflict is taking place in a broader strategic milieu in which Russia is re-emerging as a major global actor. Russia under Putin wants to establish itself as a major player in global politics, a balancer to the US might. It is flush with soaring oil revenues and confident of its power due to its hold over European energy supplies. Russian defence spending has soared to $40 billion annually, rising eightfold under Putin. There is a huge support for this among the Russian public which remains nostalgic for their great-power status. And so while Russia acquiesced to the American unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, it is no longer willing to let US actions go unchallenged. Putin’s nostalgia for the Cold War days is clearly evident. As he has said of the Cold War era, “There was an equilibrium and a fear of mutual destruction... and one party was afraid to make an extra step without consulting the other... Peace was reliable.” It is to that “reliable peace” that Putin wants to take global politics.  

However, it is clear that Russia has won the present round hands down. It now controls the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and has changed the military realities on the ground. Russia has made it clear that it intends to be ruthless in preserving what it considers its vital interests. It has also made the domestic political position of Saakashvili rather tenuous. Dictating the terms of the peace settlement after inflicting a humiliating defeat on Georgia, Russia has now effectively severed the country into two and refuses to leave Georgian borders under the pretext that it is allowed to send troops where it believes its interests are threatened. 

... contd.