On September 4, ahead of the Club's session at the Eastern Economic Forum-2023, the Valdai Club hosted a presentation of a report, titled "Russia and Asia: Paradoxes of a New Reality", featuring Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko.
The military-political crisis in Europe and the economic war of the West against Russia have served as incentives for Moscow to expand and strengthening its relations with Asian states. The vast majority of these countries take a neutral or friendly position towards Russia. The development of relations in 2022 and the dynamics of trade and economic ties with the region show that they are beneficial and useful for the implementation of Russia's most important tasks. Now, 10 years after the announcement of Russia's “pivot to the East" policy, it not only acquires a new meaning and content, but also confirms the correctness of the choice.
In 2022-2023, the countries of Asia and the states of the Arab world are the ones which are most actively developing ties with Russia. This confirms the failure of the West's attempts to isolate Moscow on the world stage. Russia’s partnership with China is developing particularly actively, but we see that other regional partners are also increasingly occupying a significant place in the system of Russian foreign economic relations. Trade, economic ties and political dialogue between Russia and the ASEAN countries are developing dynamically, Indian-Russian relations have acquired a new resonance, also due to India's balanced position in relation to the crisis in Europe. Some Asian countries, despite being US allies, are trying to maintain important areas of cooperation with Russia.
The objective of the Club's new report is to assess the dynamics of relations between Russia and Asian states in 2022-2023. The authors assess how the mechanisms of cooperation and participation of Russia in the regional formats which that have been created over the past decade function amid the new conditions. The team of authors comes to the conclusion that the obvious progress in relations between Russia and Asian countries during this period is associated both with the achievements of Russian foreign policy in this regard, and with the objective aspirations of the Asian countries, which are realizing their national interests in the context of a radical restructuring of the entire world order.
The authors of the report believe that an important task for the future of Russian policy is to maintain Russia's neutral position in relation to regional problems and challenges, as well as to make full use of the opportunities that open up in connection with its independent foreign and economic policy.
Speakers:
- Andrey Rudenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
- Alexander Korolev, Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, co-author of the report
- Ivan Zuenko,
Senior Research Fellow, Institute of International Studies, MGIMO, MFA of Russia, Associate Professor, Department of Oriental Studies, MGIMO, MFA of Russia
- Rahakundini Bakrie Konni, Jenderal Ahmad Yani University expert, analyst in the field of defence, military and intelligence activities of Indonesia
Moderator:
Working languages: Russian, English.