Editing Soft power (section)

=== Russia ===
{{update section|date=November 2023|reason=this section may have to be updated due to the impact of the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]]}}
Russia has been developing its soft power by investing in various public diplomacy instruments throughout the 2000s<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://russiadirect.foreignpolicy.com/content/how-moscow-understands-soft-power |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130827052859/http://russiadirect.foreignpolicy.com/content/how-moscow-understands-soft-power |archive-date=27 August 2013 |url-status=dead |title=How Moscow understands soft power &#124; Russia Direct}}</ref> but the term was first used in an official document in 2010 as [[President Medvedev]] approved an Addendum to the national Foreign Policy Concept. The term was not defined but it was described as related to [[cultural diplomacy]].<ref>[http://www.mid.ru/bdomp/ns-osndoc.nsf/e2f289bea62097f9c325787a0034c255/de43a8a4bcd17daac325784500296ef8/$FILE/%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5%20%E2%84%96%201.doc Addendum #1 to the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010144614/http://mid.ru/bdomp/ns-osndoc.nsf/e2f289bea62097f9c325787a0034c255/de43a8a4bcd17daac325784500296ef8/$FILE/%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5%20%E2%84%96%201.doc |date=2013-10-10 }} (in Russian)</ref> In 2013, the term appeared in a new version of the Foreign Policy Concept where the soft power was defined as "a comprehensive toolkit for achieving foreign policy objectives building on civil society potential, information, cultural and other methods and technologies alternative to traditional diplomacy."<ref>Concept of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation Approved by President of the Russian Federation V. Putin on 12 February 2013.</ref> In 2007, Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] was named [[Time Person of the Year|''Time'' Person of the Year]]. In 2013, he was named most powerful person by Forbes magazine.<ref>{{cite web|title=How Russian President Vladimir Putin Became The Most Powerful Individual On Earth|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/vladimir-putin-great-year-2013-12|access-date=1 July 2014|website=Business Insider|date=17 December 2013|archive-date=14 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714182527/http://www.businessinsider.com/vladimir-putin-great-year-2013-12|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2015, Russia led the creation of the [[Eurasian Economic Union]].<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2018-01-01|title=Putin's and Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union: A hybrid half-economics and half-political "Janus Bifrons"|journal=[[Journal of Eurasian Studies]]|language=en|volume=9|issue=1|pages=52–60|doi=10.1016/j.euras.2017.12.005|issn=1879-3665|last1=Sergi|first1=Bruno S.|doi-access=free}}</ref> In 2017, Russia had the fourth largest diplomatic network in the world.<ref name=":0" /> In the wake of the [[poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal]] in 2018, the [[BBC News|BBC]] reported that "Its extensive diplomatic network reflects both its imperial history as a [[great power]] in the 19th Century, as well as its Cold War posture. It has a multitude of posts in Eastern Europe and former communist allies including China, Vietnam, Cuba and Angola, as well as legacies of the former USSR in Africa and Asia. The size of its network reflects the extent of its undiminished global ambition."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-43577958|title=How big is the Kremlin's diplomatic network?|last=Oliver|first=Alex|date=2018-03-30|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-04-01|language=en-GB|archive-date=2018-04-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401002334/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-43577958|url-status=live}}</ref>