Putin’s New Eastward Pivot

Pavel K. Baev

Russia, geopolitics, Defense, Economics, China, Russia, China, Central Asia, Asia-Pacific

The Russian state is a poor manager of the depressed and heavily militarized economy of this region.

Over the past several years, whenever Moscow entered into a difficult encounter on the Western “front,” it has typically tried to show interest in expanding ties in the Asia-Pacific. In the last couple of weeks, the fruitless meeting of the NATO-Russia Council was followed by several risky intercepts and mock attacks by Russian fighters over the Baltic Sea (RIA Novosti, April 30; see EDM, April 21). Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov found it opportune to label Lithuania the most “Russophobic” state and to warn Sweden against joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but his promise of “military-technical” counter-measures did not go over well at all in Northern Europe (Rosbalt,Newsru.com, April 29). It was far easier for Lavrov to communicate with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and to pave the way for President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China in June (Kommersant, April 30). He also scored diplomatic points by securing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe’s visit to Sochi in early May (Forbes.ru, April 28).