West vs. East: This is how Russia will choose

Just over 40 years ago, in July 1986, Mikhail Gorbachev traveled to Vladivostok and announced something that would reshape Russian foreign policy for decades to come. For the first time, the Soviet leadership publicly declared its intention to rebuild relations with China and deepen cooperation with Asia, while it also signaled a desire to repair the bitter split with Beijing that had defined much of the previous two decades.That marked the beginning of a gradual but lasting shift, and under Vladimir Putin, particularly from the late 2000s onward, it evolved into what became known as Russia’s pivot to the East. Its value became unmistakable after 2022, as relations with the West collapsed, but China, India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia ensured that Russia didn’t become internationally isolated. They became major trading partners and important diplomatic interlocutors.Those who argued for stronger ties with Asia can legitimately claim vindication, but it would be a mistake to conclude from this that Moscow must now abandon the rest of Europe and place all its strategic weight behind the East because that’s neither necessary nor consistent with Russia’s geopolitical reality.Th...