Document Type : Research Paper
Abstract
Three republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania that constitute the Baltic countries that are of considerable importance for Russians, due to their special geopolitics. They are important at least in four aspects in Russian regional security policies: first, due to the large number of indigenous Russians in these republics, the region has been in the orbit of Russia's near abroad. Second, Baltic Region is the main route of energy transit from Russia to Europe, so it has also been of significant interest for Europe. Thus, Russia has sought to take away their intermediary position in the transfer of energy from the region to Europe. Third and fourth, prominent significance of the region Russians is the expansion of NATO and European Union to these countries.
According to these four factors, the conceptual framework of the relationship between influence, security, and territorial continuity has initially been studied in this article. Then, it tries to study and describe Russia’s security behavior in the Baltic Region. Hence, the main question of this research is: “Howand whysecurity behavior ofRussiatowardBaltic States has been formed within 1991to 2011?” In general, this paper argues that given the territorial continuity of Baltic Region with Russia and creation of security-based interests around this country and also with considering the position of the three republics of Estonia, Lithonia, and Latvia in the scope of influence of former USSR and Russia's near abroad policy, Russian security behavior toward these republics has been a mixture of tolerance and reciprocity within 1991 to 2011.
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