Russia’s smart power in Crimea: sowing the seeds of trust

The purpose of this article is to determine whether a ‘dark side’ exists to Russia’s trust-building in the Black Sea region. An empirical analysis is made of whether, and how, Russia uses soft power to deter democratization by anchoring the promotion of pro-Russian separatism in Crimea to the Russian Black Sea Fleet. It is argued that despite the unavoidable methodological challenges the topic brings with it, one cannot ignore it even in academic research because of its constantly growing empirical importance. A presentation is made of some of the actors and activities that built trust between the Crimean population and Russia by affecting Ukraine’s soft power security. The legitimacy of such activities and the extent to which they may be linked to the post-Soviet political–criminal nexus are also considered.