
Latest Articles about Far East/Siberia

Russia-Ukraine War Compels Japan to Reassess China Challenge, Shift Course on Security
Introduction Against the backdrop of the grisly Russia-Ukraine war, the security situation in East Asia may appear conducive to the continuation of the long peace that the region has enjoyed for decades. However, the devastating European war has cast a long shadow eastward. While Russia’s... MORE

Challenges Are Mounting for Fragile Belarusian Statehood
Dmitry Gurnevich of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) analyzed the biographies of Belarus’s top-ranking military officers and concluded that many of them were either born in Russia, graduated from Russian military academies, or both (Svaboda, November 3). Specifically, out of the nine top military leaders,... MORE

Will Western Sanctions Drown Russia’s Gold Industry?
On July 14, both Western (Euractiv.com, July 13) and Russian (Rbc.ru, July 14) sources reported that the European Union’s seventh sanctions package will put an embargo on Russian gold imports. If this happens, the EU will join the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and... MORE

China Building Railroads Northward, Enriching Moscow but Threatening Russia
Chinese firms are building railways into the Russian north in order to secure access to the enormous reserves of natural resources there. From one point of view, these efforts are helping Moscow, which itself lacks the funds to build railways in the far-flung areas east... MORE

Putin Opens Pandora’s Box for Russian Regionalism
At an April 26 meeting in the Kremlin with United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, President Vladimir Putin again defended the “independence” of the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” in Ukraine’s Donbas. In referring to these puppet formations, backed near-exclusively by Russia’s military and financial... MORE

Russia’s Pacific Fleet Upgrades Kamchatka Submarine Base
Amidst growing tensions in the Western Pacific over rival Chinese and United States efforts to bolster their presence there, Russia’s military is pursuing a major upgrade of the Viliuchinsk naval base in the Russian Far East. Viliuchinsk is the Pacific Fleet’s ballistic nuclear missile submarine... MORE

Moscow’s Trade With China Leaves Russians in the Far East Hungry, Cold and Angry
It is often said that most people have little difficulty living in huts until someone builds a castle nearby; then, the poverty they are experiencing becomes unbearable, and their anger at those in the castle will inevitably grow. That adage certainly holds true for the... MORE

Chinese Workers in Russian Far East Attack Rosneft Offices
For the third time since the beginning of October, Chinese employees of the Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft came out to protest. Their grievances include the failures of that company to pay them in a timely fashion, to assist those whose positions have been eliminated,... MORE

Russia’s ‘Re-Exploration’ of Siberia and the Far East: Tools, Plans, Ambitions (Part One)
In addition to other notable developments, the Sixth Eastern Economic Forum 2021 (EEF-2021), held on September 2–4, in Vladivostok (see EDM, September 14), unraveled an aspect that could have strategic long-term implications for Russia’s future development. Specifically, during the event, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu... MORE

Prison Revolts in Russia Growing in Number, Size and Impact
Russian penitentiaries and prison camps—and even their reputations for brutality—are important props for President Vladimir Putin’s regime. Few Russians want to risk harsh incarceration, and, thus, most may be more willing to go along with the Kremlin’s demands. But for such threats to work, the... MORE