Challenges to the Russia’s Soft Power in the Eurasian Economic Union

Abstract

The paper aims to study the changes to Russia’s soft power inside the Eurasian Economic Union. The Union has been considered a tool of Russian soft power aiming to establish a common market combined with common information space. The paper examines the consequences of the “Special military operation”, started in 2022, to the Russian soft power resources in international news reporting and public discussions in the mass media of the member-states. To achieve this goal the foreign policy analysis method has been applied. It has been found that Russia has put extensive efforts into building a prominent country image and promoting strong leadership in global politics. The Eurasian Economic Union is one of the successful integration projects for Russia, which combines both soft and hard power. However, recently more and more countries in the Union prefer exclusive cooperation with Russia to a multi-vector policy. The process gradually gathers momentum in the Eurasian Economic Union, especially in Armenia. It has been found that many points of disagreement provoke further decline of the symbolic leadership of Russia. The paper reports recent challenges to Russia’s soft power, which have been provoked by the changes in the international journalism and media policy in the member-states.