Abstract
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Nation branding can be viewed as a set of measures to create an attractive image of the country. Many states, including Russia, resort to it, considering the cost of it a kind of investment. It is a fair assumption to say that, that the problem of forming Russia's image in the international arena is one of the most urgent and important for today in the sphere of Russian foreign policy.
No one has been deliberately shaping Russia's image abroad over the past decade. There was no whole, single campaign, subordinated to a certain strategy. Local PR actions, such as the company in support of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, solved only local problems. Launched in 2005 on public money, the English-language channel Russia Today (a budget of $ 30 million/year), according to experts, could not establish itself as a reliable source of information, since the activities of Russian image makers strongly resemble Soviet propaganda.
The geopolitical potential of the country, its political capabilities on a global scale, is determined today not by the size and population size, not by the size of the army, but by the ability to solve economic problems and problems of mass communication.
Foreign public opinion about Russia is mainly formed by media. When choosing negative or positive news from Russia, they tend to choose the negative. There are two reasons for this: the existence of real problems in Russian society and the lack of organized efforts on the part of state and business structures to redirect or reflect the flow of unfavorable coverage of Russian events. For today there are two images of Russia. And only the positive part of the image of the country is the achievements of culture, engineering and sport.
Negative image of Russia is formed by such factors as the lack of transparency of the economy, stability of legislation, violation of human rights (example of the conflict in Chechnya, Ukraine, Syria, restriction of press freedom, violation of human rights), criminal and corrupt society, Russia's imperial ambitions, aggressive foreign policy.
There are three ways with which you can improve Russia's foreign policy image.
First: to entrust this work to real professionals who are familiar with the practice of lobbying, not according to Soviet encyclopedic dictionaries. In Russia, there is no responsible and effective body that would build and implement strong and meaningful external communication.
The second: coordinated work in the direction of Russians living outside of Russia. It should be coordinated with Rossotrudnichestvo (Россотрудничество). Unfortunately, for the time being this structure does not function in an effective mode.
There is a third: to establish an economy, to cease participation in international conflicts and act without any additional PR.
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