The Russian Federation's foreign policy towards the Asia-Pacific region after the 2000s

The Asia-Pacific region has been steadily increasing its share of industrial production, trade and financial assets and is increasingly becoming the center of the global economy. This economic rise in the Asia-Pacific region is creating new centers of attraction and enabling regional powers, particularly China, India and Japan, to gradually expand their political and military spheres of influence. This contributes to the region evolving beyond regional boundaries to a global scale, making it an axis that may have the possibility to determine the nature of international relations. For Russia, the successor after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the idea of a return to Atlanticism was initially dominant, arguing that it was in Russia's national interest to embrace the Western system. The Kremlin believed that Russia's key partners should be countries with developed economies and democratic systems, namely the United States and the Western world. Integration with the West was achieved through appropriate economic reforms and cooperation on important issues such as strategic nuclear arms reduction. However, the US and EU activities in the former Soviet territories and NATO's eastward expansion have narrowed Russia's geopolitical space. Therefore, Russia has sought to rebalance and diversify its foreign relations. The countries in the Asia-Pacific region, which are becoming increasingly important, have provided Russia with important opportunities to diversify its foreign policy. In Russian diplomacy, trying to establish more active relations with Asia-Pacific countries does not mean moving away from the West, but it shows that Russia attaches more importance to a balanced foreign policy. The Asia-Pacific region provided Russia with an opportunity to get rid of the sense of isolation caused by the deteriorating relations with the West and Western sanctions imposed after the annexation of Crimea and the 2022 Ukrainian War. At the same time, Russia wants to take advantage of the rising economic dynamism of the Asia-Pacific region to develop the economy and modernize the Siberian and Far Eastern territories. Therefore, Russia seeks to improve its bilateral relations with regional actors and to become more involved in regional multilateral economic and security mechanisms. Keywords: Russian Federation, Asia-Pacific Region, Neorealism, Asia-Pacific Regional Organizations