The image of any country is a complex interplay of different factors related to history, culture, existing stereotypes about this country abroad, strategic goals and trends in domestic and foreign policy evolution as well as the ability of ruling elite to clearly formulate and explain them to foreign partners. The post-Soviet image of Russia cannot be separated form the stages in her systemic transformation after the collapse of the USSR: Yeltsin’s period of renunciation of the Soviet past in the 90s, the period of Putin’s stabilization and Medvedev’s modernization. This publication is designed to analyze those factors, which are essential for formation of Russia’s image abroad as well as for formation of a common political space between Russia and the EU.