January 25,2016 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (January 2016)

The message in Russian media of late 2015 was pessimism about economic ties to China, but reluctance to blame the Chinese. Little is said about Russia’s relations in East Asia apart from China. Debate continues on the “turn to the East,” some seeing it as ongoing and inevitable, and others calling it an economic failure […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
chinese diaspora , geopolitics , national identity , regionalism , yellow peril
November 17,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (November 2015)

Iurii Belobrov in the November Mezhdunarodnaya zhizn’ argued that Russia and China each on its own cannot match the US strategy to strengthen its presence in the Asia-Pacific region; so the two must draw closer together. In an article strikingly reminiscent of Soviet-era writings, he insists that the United States is bent on total control […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
china , eurasia , national security , one belt one road , regionalism
September 21,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (September 2015)

On August 23 in Rossiiskaia Gazeta, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote about the significance of the seventieth anniversary of war’s end for relations with China. Linking the struggle against Naziism and Japanese militarism, he spoke proudly of the precedent of mobilizing all forces in each of these nations. He praised the Soviet Union too as […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
european union , national security , regionalism , silk road economic belt , sino-russian relations
July 29,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (July 2015)

Russian publications have turned decisively to the establishment of a new world order opposed to US-led “vertical globalization.” It centers on Asia, capitalizing on North Korea to influence South Korea’s choices, assuming close Sino-Russian ties at the core of the new order, and envisioning the BRICS and SCO summits as building blocks. Contemptuous of the […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
brics , economic relations , north korea , regionalism , sco , us-sino rivalry
March 25,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (March 2015)

An article by Gleb A. Ivashentsov attacks US moves in the Indian Ocean, while siding completely with China and suggesting that its plans fully meet Russia’s aspirations. In No. 2, Mezhdunarodnaia zhizn’ he discusses the situation in the Indian Ocean, which is described as the liveliest trade route in the world and the only year-round […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
shanghai cooperation organization , sino-russian relations
January 27,2015 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (January 2015)

Russian publications have had to react to an unexpectedly difficult environment at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015. Counting on increasing polarization in the Asia-Pacific region, they observed Xi Jinping soften his opposition to the United States in meeting with Barack Obama in November. Intending to separate troubles in Europe from aspirations […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
brics , ftaap , india , look east policy , maritime silk road , tpp
November 21,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (November 2014)

Russian articles on Russia’s “turn to the East” are full of confidence, concentrate on the big picture, and constantly repeat assumptions hardened over the previous half-year. Rather than reflect on Russia’s isolation, they insist that the West is isolated in the international community. Instead of identifying difficulties in the acceptance of Russia into East Asia, […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
brics , india , international relations framework , russo-japanese relations , southeast asia , turn to the east
September 29,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (September 2014)

While the world’s gaze centered on Russia’s relations with the West and the on-again, off-again confrontation over Ukraine, Russian publications paraded a new, more assertive outlook on Russia’s “turn to the East” (povorot na Vostok). Giving impetus to this was an early July meeting of ambassadors addressed by Vladimir Putin, the statements at which on […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
brics , central asia , dead hikiwake , india , liberal secularism , new cold war , turn to the east , ukraine
July 25,2014 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (July 2014)

New Russian articles suggest that South Korea’s foreign policy is more intriguing than previously anticipated. Explaining that there is talk today of forging a new system of global governance, an article in the June issue of Mezhdunarodnaia zhizn’ argues that the responsibility is rising for South Korea, with its important interests in the geopolitics and […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
gas deal , global governance , new cold war , new silk road , sco , sino-russian alliance , soft integration , threat from the west , trustpolitik , ukraine