On May 16, Valdai International Discussion Club held a round-table discussion «Russia and the West: new stage of relationship». The framework of the round table also included a presentation of the Russian edition of Alexander Rahr’s book Where Will Putin Go? Russia Between China and Europe (original title Der kalte Freund. Warum wir Russland brauchen: Die Insider-Analyse).
Following up on the Moscow conference on missile defense and ahead of the NATO summit in Chicago the Valdai Discussion Club convened foreign and Russian experts to discuss the future of Russia-NATO relations.
The fifth conference of the Working Group on the future of Russian-U.S. relations is to be held on May 17 - 20 in Moscow.
The theses contained in the report “Russia should not miss its chance: Development scenarios” were prepared by the working group comprising Russian and international experts ahead of the VIII annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting, themed “2011-2012 Elections and the Future of Russia. Development Scenarios for the Next 5-8 Years”.
The Valdai Index represents the combined opinion of leading world experts that participated in Valdai Club conferences with respect to Russia’s development in the political, economic, social, cultural and international spheres. Download Russia Development Index 2010-2011 in Russian (PDF)
The report examines how the Russia’s and United States` ties with the countries in post-Soviet Eurasia affect the bilateral relationship. The authors argue that despite the initial successes of the “reset” in Russia-U.S. relations, disputes relating to post-Soviet Eurasia represent “a ‘landmine’ in Russia -U.S. relations that could ‘detonate’ at any time and seriously complicate cooperation on other issues.
05/15/201212:13 In the next few years Central Asia will become a focus of Russian foreign policy both where the Kremlin’s interests in the post-Soviet space are involved and, in a broader perspective, in the context of the Afghanistan factor, relations with the Asia-Pacific Region, and “friendly rivalry” with China.
04/20/201212:58 Russia is facing a difficult choice. In the early 1990s, it opted for strategic partnership with China and now has a number of bilateral obligations within the framework of the 2001 Russian-Chinese Treaty of Friendship. At the same time, Russia has been trying to balance the excessive influence of Chinese business in the Russian Far East.
04/04/201210:21 Russia is third in the world in terms of the number of its citizens who travel abroad. China is second. In 2011, some 235,000 Chinese nationals visited Russia, which was 48% higher than in 2010. It is expected that the number of tourists travelling between Russia and China in 2012 will reach 3.3 million people.
04/03/201210:06 The world economy deserves financial stability and a strict and coordinated policy on the financial side. Having a new world currency, in addition to the US$ and the Euro as key reserve currencies at present, would be beneficial as long as it meets the need for more world stability.
04/02/201215:35 BRICS showed the new ways of international cooperation. BRICS does not include any Western countries, so under the BRICS framework the discussion on the problems and prospects took place without West’s influence or interference. The views expressed during the Summit were more of non-West than anti-West.
03/26/201216:48 The most significant of Russia’s Asian relationships, the ‘strategic partnership’ with China, has expanded in recent years. But it is still a relatively modest affair. America continues to be the strategic reference point for Russian foreign policy, while the EU is by far Russia’s largest trading partner and source of foreign investment.
03/20/201212:26 There are surprises in the Strategy 2020 reform report prepared by experts for Vladimir Putin. The report sees China as a major challenge to Russian development, pushing Russia out of its traditional markets and reducing its political weight.
03/13/201211:35 The new Russian president will be confronted with complex tasks in the Asian Pacific Region. Moscow will need to preserve good relations with China, find an economic counterbalance to influential Chinese businesses in the Far East and expand its trade relations with ASEAN. The main thing is to avoid having to choose between the US and China amid mounting U.S.-China contradictions.
03/12/201210:34 Putin has to decide whether he has to get rid of some people, how many, who and so on. Or he can ignore this public demand for new faces and bring his own team, his St. Petersburg team, or the people who have been around him for the past 20 years, and keep them, ignoring the public mood for changes in government.
03/12/201209:58 Why did Putin win? First, he had many advantages over other candidates. Second, in his two previous presidential terms he scored impressive achievements. In particular, he curtailed separatist trends in the country, pushing back against the substantial gains made by separatists in Dagestan and Chechnya.
