The Effectiveness of Confucius Institutes in Promoting Chinese Soft Power in Kazakhstan
In February 2016, Dariga Nazerbayeva, the then-deputy prime minister of Kazakhstan, declared that Kazakh children should learn Chinese in addition to Kazakh, Russian and...
Russian Authorities Going Forth and Back with Migration Policy
Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Economic Policy and Property and Land Relations Vladimir Efimov, in an interview published this mid-September in the newspaper Izvestia,...
Russia’s Far East: Transforming the Space into Modern Habitable Region
Early September the 6th edition of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) under the theme "New Opportunities for the Far East in a Changed World" was held...
Russia and Central Asian countries in the aftermath of the Taliban victory
While the States concerned are paying attention to the situation in Afghanistan, they are also constantly adjusting their policies towards this country. A new...
Russia’s Asian Age: The Permanent Pivot
After spending more than two decades in shadows since the dissolution of Soviet Union, Russia is emerging again on the Asian landscape as a...
Competing for Resource: India-China Rivalry in Central Asia
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the independence of the 5 Central Asian Republics (hereby, CARs) of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and...
Forget Kalashnikov? Russian Foreign Policy After Realism
The Russian community of international relations professionals and pundits is strongly influenced by political realism. Being a realist is a good rule of thumb...
Russia & The Taliban: From Narrative Challenges To Opportunities
The Taliban’s lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan was a “black-swan” event that completely changed the geostrategic situation in Central and South Asia. It also resulted...
Saleh Turns to Rahmon to Save Tajiks in Afghanistan
The situation in Afghanistan has dramatically changed over the past week. After the recent impetuous attacks, militants of the Taliban captured the entire territory...
The Turkey-Russia Relationship: Why “Compartmentalization” and Not Conflict?
Russia and Turkey maintain an interesting and volatile geopolitical relationship. The two states share many common interests and have significant economic ties to one...