Notwithstanding the general proclivity for incompleteness, contingency and abruption in Russian politics, this research is about the rebuilding of the Russian polity after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the futures that are inscribed in the way the building process unfolds. The reasoning of the Russian policy on ‘pan-European transport corridors’ is one instance at which this rebuilding is actualized. The ‘pan-European transport corridor’ concept was introduced in the mid-1990s as the embodiment of an idea for an “all-European transport policy”. This study asks what kind of semantic ‘currency’ is the concept of the ‘pan-European transport corridor’ and for what purposes is it employed in the context of Russian politics?

This research contributes to the broad discussion on the rebuilding of Russian polity and the new place for Russia in world politics ­ by focusing on one instance of adaptation to changing international conditions, the development of transport infrastructures. As a starting point, it is argued that the development of three ‘pan-European transport corridors’ on Russian territory is the very conjunction point of three major processes: the fragmentation of the post-Soviet space, the integration of Russia into the global markets and the EU, and the reorganization of Russian polity. These are at the same time the major challenges in Russia’s rebuilding.

The study shows the relative ease with which the word ‘corridor’ was adopted into the Russian lexicon. This by no means implies that the use of the term has been unambiguous. Although the adoption of similar terminology enhances opportunities for a successful dialogue between Russia and the EU, the policies pursued in the field of transport are compatible as well as contradictory. The study identifies the set of semantic games constitutive of the Russian policies vis-à-vis transport infrastructure modernization. From the viewpoint of the consolidation of the dialogue between Russia and the EU, the games of simulation and chance are the most challenging. The playing of these games proceeds from the public sphere whereby the policy loses visible signposts that would help in assessing its outlines.