Russian compatriots as an actor of Russian Foreign Policy

This thesis aims to what extent the Russian compatriots determine Russian Foreign Policy as an actor towards Central Asia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It analyses the defining and resolving the issue of the Russian compatriot abroad as a concept. It demonstrates their decreasing population trends in Central Asia from the Soviet times to the 2000s and how and in which area the compatriots have become a priority for the Russian foreign policy agenda. In particular, I will examine the Russian Foreign Policy approaches as a historical process by using the official governmental documents of the foreign policy concepts and their implementations in Central Asia at bilateral and multilateral levels by illustrating the main breaking points on regional and international developments for understanding the significance that all foreign policy aspects depend on each other. It will allow a better understanding of particular approaches to Russian Foreign Policy toward the compatriots in Central Asia after the demise of the Soviet Union. In this way, it will give an opportunity in which particular area Russian compatriots policy has been achieved or failed.