Prénom de l'expert

Bobo

Nom de l'expert

LO

When Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin announced a “no limits friendship” at their February 2022 summit, the message was that Beijing and Moscow had reached a new peak in relations.

The escalating crisis in Ukraine in the winter of 2021-2022 has returned US-Russia relations to center stage.

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a harsh spotlight on the state of global governance. Faced with the greatest emergency since the Second World War, nations have regressed into narrow self-interest. The concept of a rules-based international order has been stripped of meaning, while liberalism faces its greatest crisis in decades.

Northeast Asia has emerged as a critical theater of Russian foreign policy in recent years.

Moscow’s historical Westerncentrism is giving way to a new awareness about the vital importance of the region. The “turn to the East” now has genuine substance and impetus. Yet Russian policy is a work in progress, more opportunistic than strategic. The security landscape is complex and fluid, and Moscow has struggled to manage its contradictions.

In the course of his presidency, Vladimir Putin has presided over a remarkable expansion of Russian foreign policy.

As the US-led international system struggles under the strain of multiple challenges, the complex web of relations between Russia, China, and India will be critical to the formation of a new world order.

The discussion about the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) opposes two narratives. The first considers they play an increasing role in the international relations as the West is loosing power; the other sees the BRICS as a charade. But the key role played by the interaction between Russia and China is an evidence shared by most experts.

For much of the post-Soviet period, Central Asia has been a backwater of Russian foreign policy. But things are changing. Circumstances in and beyond the region are driving a more committed approach in Moscow.