title: The Western Decline, Multipolarity and the Challenges of Identity in the Making of Russian Foreign Policy
abstract: Despite a few short periods of smooth cooperation, misperceptions and divergences between Russia and the West have widened since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some of the most relevant problems in their relationship will be briefly mentioned here below and some are not new in their essence. Unquestionably however, the Ukrainian crisis has exacerbated the confrontation. As a reaction to the annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine, the US/EU sanctions against Moscow, Russia’s exclu