Russia's Eastern pivot? Perspectives from Northeast Asia

conflict with the West over Ukraine, Russia proclaimed its "Eastern pivot." To compensate for the economic damage caused by deteriorated economic relations and "sanctions war" with the West, Russia sought to enhance its relations with a number of Asian partners, particularly China, Japan, and South Korea. What are the interim results of Russia's "Eastern pivot" four years later? What is the current agenda of Russia's relations with these three key actors in northeast Asia? These presentations will focus on the political and economic dimensions of Russia's relations with these states.

Akihiro Iwashita is Professor at the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center at Hokkaido University (Sapporo, Japan) and Professor at the Center for Asia-Pacific Future Studies at Kyushu University. His research focuses on border studies and territorial issues in Asia, Japanese-Russian, and Sino-Russian relations. In 2007-2008, Professor Iwashita was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for East Asia Policy Studies. 

Serghei Golunov is Professor in the Faculty of Law, Kyushu University (Fukuoka, Japan). His current research interests include border studies, Russia's relations with adjacent states, and conspiracy theorizing. He is an author of EU-Russian Border Security: Challenges, (Mis)perceptions, and Responses(Routledge, 2012).

Edward Boyle is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Center for Asia-Pacific Future Studies, Kyushu University. He is establishing Kyushu University Border Studies (KUBS) as an interdisciplinary hub for all things border-related, and is currently examining multiscalar border effects and their implications in projects on Japan, Georgia and Northeast India.