During his first trip to the Russian Far East as prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin berated the inadequate level of infrastructure of the local seaport in Magadan (on the Sea of Okhotsk), which, he noted, hindered the surrounding region’s economic development and international outreach (Korabel.ru, August 17). In pointing out these limitation, Mishustin tacitly acknowledged that Russia’s policy aimed at strengthening its trade ties with other Asia-Pacific countries was experiencing visible difficulties. Nicknamed the “Pivot to Asia,” this policy’s foundations were laid down by former Russian prime minister (1998–1999) Yevgeny Primakov at the end of the 1990s, before being informally announced by Vladimir Putin in early 2012 (Mn.ru, February 27, 2012). President Putin reiterated the Pivot to Asia in his 2013 address to the Federation Council (upper chamber of parliament) (Interfax, December 12, 2013). Broadly speaking, the policy argues for changing Russia’s civilizational paradigm (from European to Eurasian) and shifting economic ties eastward (from the European Union to the Asia-Pacific) by making Siberia and the Far East “Russia’s national priority for the 21st century.” Now, almost six years later, it appears that despite a few tangible and rhetorical successes (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, September 12, 2019), the strategy is floundering due to important systemic and structural obstacles.
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