More than 20 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union Russia returns to thestage of international development aid. In their study, Evgeniya Bakalova andHans-Joachim Spanger present a detailed picture of the evolving field of Russiandevelopment policy and analyze its cooperative or competitive potential withregard to the Western-dominated international activities. While Russia´semerging development cooperation faces multiple dilemmas and currently findsitself at a crossroads, the country´s postulated non-ideological approach mightprovide fruitful ground for a productive exchange between the traditional´donor community and the new´ donor.