RUSSIAN POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC TURN TO THE EAST: PRO ET CONTRA

Abstract

The past year (2014) adjusted Russian foreign policy and once again raised the need to shift towards cooperation with the East. The relevance of this article is examination of international activity of the Russian authorities during sensitive geopolitical and economic turbulence and unprecedented pressure on Russia since the collapse of the bipolar system of international relations. The goal is to identify advantages and disadvantages of the «turn to the East» strategy that was proclaimed by the Russian officials in 2014. The following tasks should be solved to achieve this goal: systematization of Russian political and business elites’ activity in the East, analysis of the steps Russia has already taken, fixing of the political and economic risks that Russia may face in the East on a midterm horizon.Assessment of the effectiveness of Russian leaders’ foreign policy maneuvers in the East requires the following methods: event analysis, situational analysis and the method of peer review. The general conclusion of the paper is the statement that the Russian turn to the East has not formed yet and it requires systematization and formation of an integrated strategy. The author plans to continue to study Russian political and economic potential in the East as well as to identify problem fields and their solutions.