Soft Power? The Means and Ends of Russian Influence

Different countries possess soft power for different reasons. This is a summary of an event held at Chatham House on 31 March 2011. Participants from the EU and US considered the mechanisms that Russia has devised to influence and attract countries in the 'near-abroad', Western Europe and the US. Other areas also discussed included business links and state-corporate relations, energy ties, the soviet heritage and informal networks, and the manipulation of civilisational affinities and linguistic ties.