Russlands Wende nach Osten. Kleine Schritte statt umfassende Neuorientierung

In recent years Russia has intensified its engagement in Asia. The Turn to the East is even being discussed as a strategic reorientation of the country. Apart from the rhetoric, however, the results are mixed. Russia’s foreign economic policy, with its focus on energy and armaments projects, runs the risk of reproducing the very structures that have limited the country’s foreign policy options and hindered economic development in the past. Furthermore, the expansion of Russia’s security-related engagement in Asia, while being currently successful, faces serious challenges in light of an emerging dependence on China.