Abstract
The Crimean crisis in March 2014 impels us to reconsider Sino-Russian relations. From Russia’s perspective, all that matters is that China—its largest trading partner and the primary hope for future investments—opposed sanctions and would not formally oppose Moscow at the Security Council. We see the limits of Russia’s ability to resist Chinese power in economic issues, e.g., energy and arms sales. China continues to pocket its gains: access to Russian oil, leverage over Rosneft, deterioration of East-West ties, and new arms sales. Moscow has signally failed to anchor the political-economic system, and Russia is increasingly anchored to China as energy and arms sales suggest. This is the conclusion despite Russian efforts to find some balance.
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Notes
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Blank, S. (2018). Russo-Chinese Relations in Strategic Perspective. In: Rozman, G., Radchenko, S. (eds) International Relations and Asia’s Northern Tier. Asan-Palgrave Macmillan Series. Palgrave, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3144-1_6
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