Original Article Critical geopolitics on Russian foreign policy: Uncovering the imagery of Moscow’s international relations Mariya Y. Omelicheva Department of Political Science, University of Kansas, 1541 Lilac Ln., rm. 504, Lawrence, KS 66044, USA. E-mail: omeliche@ku.edu Abstract The pragmatic and imperialist frames have dominated the analyses of Russian foreign policy. Despite the glaring similarities of Russia’s international conduct with expectations of pragmatism and expansionism, this study argues that Moscow’s foreign policy has been informed by more nuanced and dynamic conceptions of international relations. To uncover the imagery of global politics, as conceived by Russia’s top foreign policy makers, this study employs a critical geopolitics perspective. The latter views foreign policy as a social, cultural, discursive, and political practice of constructing, defending, and living the alternative claims about the ‘truths’ of inter- national relations. The study illuminates Russia’s spatial conceptions of the world, its views of the international actors, and its national identity discourse. It shows how this imagery enters Russia’s geopolitical reasoning that provides the Russian government with ‘rationality’ for projecting soft and hard power in the neighborhood and beyond. International Politics (2016). doi:10.1057/s41311-016-0009-5 Keywords: Russian foreign policy; Ukraine; geopolitics; global politics; international relations; national identity discourse Introduction What happened to Russian foreign policy? In a flagrant violation of international norms regulating the use of force, Russia became directly involved in fighting between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine turning from one of the staunchest defenders of international law to a transgressor of key principles of international conduct. 1 Despite the crumbling economic impact of Western sanctions imposed on Russia following the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 by Russia-supported rebels, the Kremlin’s bellicosity has proceeded Ó 2016 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1384-5748 International Politics www.palgrave.com/journals