Russian Foreign Policy Concept and Global Health: The War as a Turning Point

This essay argues that the complex qualitative shift in Russian foreign policy has far-reaching implications for international cooperation on global health governance and health security. “Global health” in Russia’s new Foreign Policy Concept (FPC) is less about the country’s existence in the well-established “Global Health” architecture but more about presenting itself as a sovereign power with a global strategy based on national science, technology, and health security capacities aimed to operate more effectively during various biological incidents with strategic consequences for national security. While pandemic preparedness and the next international response to the health crisis must be more efficient, Russia is a critical starting point for thinking about the future of cooperation on global health security.