Valdai Club

Russia should support any initiatives of its friends and neighbours that can strengthen the socioeconomic foundations of their independence. At the same time, we all realize that the only limitation to such independence is the emergence of formal allied relations with extra-regional powers and the transformation of one’s territory into a springboard for their foreign policy, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Timofei Bordachev.

The US-ROK alliance is facing a debate over the desire of the United States to reorient its forces in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) towards containing China. However, Seoul has shown reluctance, primarily due to its deep economic interdependence with the PRC and concerns over a further deterioration in bilateral relations with Beijing, writes Greg Dong Suk Yoo. The author is a participant of the Valdai – New Generation project.

Paris’s resolutely pro-Ukrainian position is largely dictated by the evolution of its own foreign policy and a desire to halt its decline as a great power, writes Alexey Chikhachev, Associate Professor of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University and leading expert at the Centre for Strategic Studies at the Institute of Foreign Economic Relations at the Higher School of Economics.

More and more states, including those not subject to sanctions, are recognising the harmfulness of coercive measures, including “secondary” ones, against their citizens and companies. The need is now ripe to develop an international, legally binding instrument aimed at jointly countering unilateral restrictions, Dmitry Kiku writes.

New Delhi is cognisant of the future viability of the Northern Sea Route, given the further thawing of the Arctic and the prospect of improved relations between Russia and other Arctic states over the long term, writes Rajoli Siddharth Jayaprakash, Junior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. The author is a participant of the Valdai – New Generation project.

Global climate policy is currently at a critical turning point and could shift to fundamentally different forms of functioning. This is due to cross-border carbon taxation in the EU, Trump’s strong opposition to the green agenda, and the unresolved issue of a truly just transition to carbon neutrality for the Global South, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Oleg Barabanov.

Adversity concentrates the mind. It is no wonder that Russia – the most sanctioned country in the world, whose sequestered foreign exchange reserves make the headlines as various western powers vie to come up with ideas of how to dispose of them to aid Ukraine, and which is expelled from the dominant international payments system – even more than the rest of the BRICS, has been in the forefront of thinking about the limitations of the dollar system and the need to replace it.

Israel's attack on Iran in June of 2025, one of the goals of which was to overthrow or at least significantly weaken the Iranian government, did not achieve the expected result. This is not only due to Iran's strategic depth, its successful defence, or the effect of rallying the population "around the flag”. A key factor in the resilience of the Iranian political system is its institutional flexibility, writes Mehrubon Ashurov.

The International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and the Chabahar Port in Iran have become the backbone of India’s effort to secure alternative connectivity into Eurasia. These are not projects of ambition but of insurance, designed to keep the trade moving even when the maritime trade is disrupted and the markets turn uncertain, writes Rupal Mishra.

There are no signs that China or India intend to comply with the demands of the sanctions-initiating countries. Russian supplies are important for both countries, so their acceptance may be continued by other companies or by those focused exclusively on the Russian market, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Ivan Timofeev.