Key takeaways

- The disruptive nature of the pandemic for Russia and the post-Soviet space should not be overestimated. Yet, it has served as a stress test by aggravating many of the previously vexed issues and their implications, which go well beyond national agenda.

- The pandemic has boosted the requirement for pragmatism and devaluated rhetoric that is not corroborated by practice.

- Russia will maintain all its core foreign policy priorities once the pandemic is over.

- Russia’s crucial task for the post-COVID period is to prevent the chaotization and atomization of the post-Soviet space. Or otherwise, we might observe galloping uncertainty and unpredictability, in which multidirectional nationalism will serve as the determining driver, as well as the ideology of religious exclusivity.

- There is an urgent need to restart the Eurasian integration projects and enhance their practical efficiency and appeal.

- Russia will be focused on the idea of “harmonizing” Eurasia. In this context, the post-Soviet space will even gain in importance for Moscow.

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