What to make of Sergei Ivanov’s speech at the Munich security conference? Some think that he was playing “good cop” to Putin’s “bad cop” – striking a conciliatory and reasonable tone on Kosovo discussions in contrast to Putin’s pre-election bombast declaring a new arms race. For example: Lavrov: “Right away I would like to make a point: we do not intend to meet this challenge by establishing military blocs or engaging in open confrontation with our partners. Russia’s way is different: we are consistently developing multivector cooperation with various nations both on a bilateral level and in the framework of key international and regional organizations. (…) We don’t export ideology anymore, you will agree with that. We export only goods and capital.” Putin: “We have seen how the lofty slogans of freedom and an open society are sometimes used to destroy the sovereignty of a country or an entire region. We have seen how, behind a veneer of clamorous rhetoric about free trade and investment, the most developed countries step up their protectionist policies.” Even Quentin Peel of the FT remarked that “for once, Mr Ivanov did not appear to be too smug.” But the most important and interesting part of the Ivanov speech addressed the issue of the precedent that would be set by recognizing Kosovo sovereignty – which Ivanov argued would open a Pandora’s box.