Russia's foreign policy and its role in a post-cold war

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Russia’s foreign policy and its role in a post-cold war ‘new world order’
The cold war was an ideology war between the two super powers namely the capitalist US and the communist Soviet Union from which modern day Russia arose after the disintegration of the Soviet Union into separate nations after the Cold War. The new world order describes the unprecedented period of drastic drift from the bipolar cold war world to the post-cold war multipolar world (Light, 2001).
The new world order is characterized by emerging great powers such as China and Russia. Russia’s role in the new multipolar world has been to earn recognition as a great power. To earn this recognition, Russia has maintained great nuclear arsenal able to destroy the US in 30 minutes (Allison, Blackwell, Simes, & Saunders, 2011). It also seeks to safeguard its position as the leading energy supplier in the form of gas and oil that keeps the global economies stable. Russia also holds strategic positions in international system’s decision making bodies such as the G7, G20 and United Nations Security Council as a permanent member (Lavrov, 2010).
In the new world order, Russia maintains a strong stance against America’s expansionist policy in the Soviet space through the US led NATO. For instance, Russia aims to safeguard Eurasia’s sovereignty on the basis that America’s influence on it would strip her of her influencing power over Eurasia (Sakwa, 2002). Russia covets having equal or rival position in NATO’s decision making and now encourages European countries to make security decisions outside NATO structures either in the UN or in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Clearly, Russia is unwilling to sacrifice her interests or reconcile them to America unless given equal, rival or veto power.