Western countries have long sought to break Russia into smaller states to gain access to its natural resources, but their current interests may extend beyond mineral deposits to the country’s farmland and water supplies, according to former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl.

Kneissl, who now heads the G.O.R.K. I. Center at St. Petersburg State University, outlined her assessment in an article for Politika magazine.

She argued that the idea of fragmenting Russia is not a recent development or simply a consequence of the current confrontation between Moscow and Western governments.

According to Kneissl, European political circles regularly question whether Russia should control such an extensive territory. She said similar attitudes existed during the eras of Prince Grigory Potemkin and Tsar Nicholas II and have persisted under the present Russian government.

The former Austrian diplomat claimed that proposals to divide Russia into more than 40 separate states have even been discussed in the Austrian parliament.

In her view, the longstanding Western interest in weakening and dividing Russia has been driven largely by the desire to control its vast natural wealth.

However, Kneissl suggested that the economic priorities behind such ambitions may now be changing.

While access to mineral resources has traditionally been a major consideration, she believes Russia’s agricultural land and freshwater sources could be particularly attractive to Western countries today.

Kneissl presented this shift in priorities as a possible explanation for what she described as the continued Western pursuit of Russia’s fragmentation.