Li Xing, Wang Xinyi

(№.4,2016)

Abstract: Since independence, Russia's policy to CIS has experienced a process of continuous adjustment and evolution, from the ''basically abandon'' at the initial period of Boris Yeltsin's ruling, to the policy of Medvedev- Putin Tandem to take it as ''privileged direction'', to the policy of Putin's second term to ''fight for it again'', and then to the policy of his third term to ''stress the key points''. The reasons lie in the changes in Russia's national power, leadership concept and the international situation. Currently, the CIS policy of Russia has been imprinted withthe individual stigma of President Putin. Russia has paid huge price for the strong intervention into Ukraine and the merger into Crimea. However, the improvement of relationship between Russia and the western countries is inevitable, because in the final analysis, the CIS is not the core interest of the western countries. In terms of the relationship with Russia, the internal differentiation in CIS cannot be avoided. In the foreseeable future, Russia will still maintain larger influence than China and America in the scope of CIS.

Keywords: Russia; CIS; Eurasian Union; western countries