Soviet Union had good military and economic relations with the Asia Pacific’s regional countries. The demise of the Soviet Union had significantly hampered the relations between Russian Federation, which is deemed to be the successor to Soviet Union, and Asia Pacific’s countries.
However, Russia’s growing sale of weapons and other advanced military technology to a number of Asia-Pacific countries for the last one decade reflects Moscow’s attempt to re-establish the lost military relations with the Asia Pacific countries.
Russia’s growing military relations with regional countries and a number of large-scale drills in recent years suggest that Russia’s geopolitical presence is increasing in the region and it could well become a potent regional power soon.
However, it appears that the mainstream media and research institutes do not want to give any coverage to Russia’s growing engagement in Asia-Pacific.
It seems that although Russia’s military clout in Europe and Middle East are well understood and acknowledged, Russia’s growing engagement in the Asia Pacific region is largely underestimated and underrated.
Accordingly, the growing influence of Russia in the region finds less attention on the regional media outlets, the regional discussion platforms and the think-tank papers produced across the region. This is a total contrast to Russian involvement in Europe and Middle East, something which receives huge coverage.
