Russia – East Asia 2024 Multilateral Relations – Update

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has been in Laos, attending meetings of the East Asia Summit, which included 18 partners, including Russia, being the United States, the European Union, Japan, Australia, South Korea, India and China, and the members of ASEAN. This also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Papua New Guinea also attends as an observer.

The summit focus has been on security issues in the Asia-Pacific where, Moscow and Beijing say, the situation has deteriorated due to NATO’s intentions to militarize the region.

Over the past year, since Russia has singled out ASEAN as a priority in its foreign policy doctrine, there has been no significant developments between Russia and ASEAN as a bloc, although none were particularly expected. According to Alexander Korolev, the Deputy Director of HSE Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, Russia continues to develop relations with individual ASEAN member countries, primarily Malaysia, whose Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has discussed Islamic banking cooperation at the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia and has been actively campaigning for Malaysian membership in BRICS, while Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam have all expressed interest in joining.

According to Korolev, ASEAN has refrained from indulging in any discussions on Ukraine, although the subject still comes up at these bi-annual events. These however, deal with the conflict’s impact on food and energy security rather than any military or political implications.

In terms of a brief 2024 bilateral trade look between the attending East Asia Summit members and Russia, we can provide the following snapshot

Country / Region	Sanctions Against Russia	Trade Volume (USD)	Trend
ASEAN	No	22 billion
Australia	Yes	200 million
China	No	260 billion
European Union	Yes	122 billion
India	No	65 billion
Japan	Yes	10.2 billion
South Korea	Yes	20 billion
United States	Yes	27 billion

(Data source: Statista) 

Further Reading

Malaysia Views ASEAN’s Russia Engagement As A “Development Lynchpin”