Russia and China in Greater Eurasia

Abstract

China and Russia are the main driving forces of Eurasian integration. Russia pursues its “pivot to Asia” while China by its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is moving to the West. The interests of Russia and China met in Eurasia and their friendly relations led to several projects of cooperation there. The most important of these are the process of linkage between Eurasian Economic Union and Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative and the plan to create a broader Eurasian Economic Partnership or Greater Eurasia. The Eurasian orientation was a result of a long and painful process of intellectual evolution of the Russian elite caused by realization that the West will never accept Russia as an equal and independent partner. No Moscow leader after Mikhail Gorbachev was originally anti-Western. Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin all tried a Western oriented policy first and at a later stage became disillusioned in it. This article studies the reasons which led the two countries to intensify their cooperation in Eurasia, its current state and prospects for the future.