The Russian Pivot to Asia

Abstract

The aims of Russia’s “departure from Europe and entrance into Asia” are as follows: 1) civilizational, to clarify rejection of “universal values” of the West and insistence on a distinctive civilization”; 2) geopolitical, to forge a multilateral security framework, in contrast to the US-centered alliance system; and 3) geoeconomic, to become an integral part of Asia’s dynamic economy, developing the Russian Far East and Eastern Siberia as a manufacturing hub, transforming transportation infrastructure to realize Eurasianism, and supplying energy primarily to Asia rather than European states. The gateway to Asia for all three of these objectives is China despite some question about overdependence on it as an economic strategy. Rejecting the West in all three respects, Russia has contradictory notions of joining China in a “new cold war” and forging a multipolar regional framework, but the former is taking the lead.