Abstrakt
The interactions among the three major powers - Europe, China and the United States - are of the utmost significance in terms of global development as well as the shape of the international order, its principles, rules and practices. Even though this trilateral relationship is determining, it overlooks the fourth major power - Russia, which belongs to the engine of the Eurasian integration and the substantial rise of this macro-region together with China.
The principal aim of the paper is, therefore, to complement analyses of the trilateral relationship with the Russian context. It will enable a more comprehensive insight into the overall problematics, thus contributing to a more accurate and complex understanding of the major powers' dynamics and a better prediction of the future development as well as reshaping of the global order towards a multipolar, more democratic and inclusive model, recognising the needs and interests of individual states and regions in harmony with their cultural prerequisites, specific social patterns and development trajectories.
The paper consists of two main parts. The first one inquires into Russia's concept of sovereignty, autonomy or independence ("strategic autonomy") and their impacts on the major power's triangle (Europe, China and the US).
This issue is analysed both at the normative and practical levels, starting with an analysis of the strategic policy documents (National Security Strategy, Military Doctrine, Economic Security Strategy, Information Security Doctrine, Energetic Security Doctrine, Foreign Policy Concept, Presidential Addresses to the Federal Assembly and other relevant documents) and ending with concrete political acts and initiatives, for instance, development of the Russian National Card Payment System, Global Navigation Satellite System, an alternative to the international SWIFT system, 5G projects or military power based on the nuclear arsenal. Researching into the problematics, emphasis is put on the field of politics, security and economy.
In the second part, attention is drawn predominantly to the current state and prospects of Russia's role in the major powers' interactions under new circumstances defined by China's dual circulation strategy and the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), Joe Biden's presidency (2021-2025) and development of the European Union within the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 and under Ursula von der Leyen's Commission (2019-2024) which set the following priorities: Green Deal, digital transformation, economic revitalisation, strengthening its role in the multilateral transformation of the international order, protection of the liberal democracy and the overall post-pandemic recovery. The analysis is conducted in terms of areas of possible cooperation and confrontation, concluding with a formulation of a sustainable quadrilateral relationship as a precondition of a new inclusive global community of common destiny model overcoming flaws and dilemmas of the declining unilateral, US-led system.