Eurasian integration and the development of Asiatic Russia

Abstract

This paper argues that Russia's strategic objective of developing its Asiatic regions is tied to its serious intentions in Asia as a whole. It stresses that Russia can only connect to the political, economic, and cultural life of Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific through its own Asian regions. Moreover, leaders’ claims that Russia belongs to both Europe and Asia will carry little weight with their Asiatic neighbors if Russia's own Asiatic regions remain underdeveloped and subject to shrinking populations. The paper critically analyzes the results of various projects of development of Asiatic Russia beginning from late tsarist period until the 21st century and shows that Russia needs to put forward a formal strategy for developing the Eurasian infrastructure that is comparable to the SREB, Kazakhstan's NurlyZhol (Bright Path) economic stimulus plan, Mongolia's Steppe Road, and others. This strategy should reflect Russia's objectives for the economic development of its own Asiatic regions, and through them, the co-development with its neighbors of Eurasia generally. It argues that the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development, put forward by several Russia think tanks, could become Russia's contribution to the development of the Eurasian space and mesh with the Chinese, Kazakh, Mongolian, and other partner initiatives. Its implementation would help spur the economic development of Asiatic Russia, enabling that region to become part of the larger economic development of Eurasia. That would help turn Russia into a more important independent and constructive player in the Eurasian space, acting in close coordination with its partners in both the East and the West.

The Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union: Exploring the “Greater Eurasian Partnership”

“…In 2016, Kazakhstan adopted an agreement on coordination of its national economic strategy called “Nurly Zhol” (Bright Path) with the BRI (The Cooperation Plan on Coordination of the New Economic Policy ‘Nurly Zhol’ and the Silk Road Economic Belt between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Government of the People’s Republic of China, 2016). Meanwhile, Russia conceived a Trans-Eurasian Development Belt which aims to transport Chinese goods via Russian routes: the Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur railway and the Northern marine route (Lukin et al, 2018; Ria Novosti, 2014) and to contribute to development of the Russian Far East and Siberia (Lukin et al, 2018). Amongst the motives for the Trans-Eurasian Belt was Russia’s concern that it was not one of the main routes chosen by China.…”

“…The previous concept of “Greater Eurasia” drew on a Russian concept of “Greater Europe” (Valovaya, 2018a) which was EU-oriented and collapsed due to the annexation of Crimea (Kaczmarski, 2017: 1369). The authorship of the concept of “Greater Eurasia” has been attributed to the Russian think-tank “Valdai Club” (Christoffersen, 2018: 442; Lukin et al, 2018: 104). Apart from the Valdai Club, other Russian state-sponsored institutions such as the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and the Russian International Affairs Council have worked together to produce a theoretical framework to accommodate the concept of “Greater Eurasian Partnership” originally articulated by the Russian leadership (Christoffersen, 2018; Samokhvalov, 2018).…”

China’s engagement with Kazakhstan and Russia’s Zugzwang: Why is Nur-Sultan incurring regional power hedging?

“…The process of linking, or otherwise translatable as “pairing” ( sopryazhenie in Russian or duijie in Chinese), was enshrined in a joint declaration signed by President Xi and former President Nazarbayev in 2015 (Chubarov, 2018). Nurly Zhol is an economic stimulus plan to develop the national infrastructure after the global financial crisis of 2008/2009 and the following depreciation of the Tenge, the national currency of Kazakhstan (Lukin & Yakunin, 2018, p. 104). In particular, it has supplemented numerous national strategies, inter alia the initiative “The 100 Concrete Steps Set Out by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Implement the Five Institutional Reforms,” “The Strategy for Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan until the Year 2030” and the “Strategy ‘Kazakhstan-2,050’,” aiming to provide sufficient means for modernization and incentives for foreign investors (Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2016; President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2014).…”

The All-Buryat Congress for the Spiritual Rebirth and Consolidation of the Nation: Siberian politics in the final year of the USSR

“…This was very controversial as the republic had a long international border with Mongolia, was close to China, and held a strategic piece of the Trans-Siberian Railway. For that reason, many Soviet troops were stationed there and a demand to remove them was a serious challenge to Soviet strength in southeastern Siberia (Lukin & Yakunin, 2018).…”