Understanding the Intricacies between Southeast Asia and Russia

Abstract

Over the past thirty years, the Russian Federation has continuously made efforts to tighten its ties with the Southeast Asian region. Yet, Russia has made rather insignificant progress in the region when compared to powers like China and the U.S. This article seeks to examine the ASEAN-Russia relationship in terms of its historical relation, cultural relation, political and security relation and economic and trade relation. From these areas of cooperation, it can be observed that Russia has remained a peripheral player in the region. Despite this, Russia has an increasingly important role in countering the geostrategic influence of China and the U.S. The article moves on to analyzing Russia’s role in the region, particularly how it attempts to achieve its foreign policy goals amidst the power rivalry between China and the U.S. Finally, the paper looks at how Southeast Asian countries have a growing interest in tightening their connections with Russia, for both economic and security reasons in light of the China-U.S. struggle for power, ASEAN’s economic future and the novel COVID-19.