Russia is looking to Southeast Asia for an economic boost after fresh sanctions from the United States hit its energy sector, with a senior minister saying Moscow sees “mutually beneficial” opportunities with Asean in nuclear technology, logistics and trade.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and East Asia summits in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said Russia was deepening cooperation with countries such as Malaysia amid what he described as “constant” Western restrictions on its economy.
“Our country has been under sanctions probably for the last 125 years,” he told This Week in Asia after talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
“Sanctions are like the climate – they’ve always existed. [But] we maintain and improve trade and economic relations, [and] we work to strengthen connectivity between regions and organisations like the Eurasian Economic Union and Asean.”
The Eurasian Economic Union is a Russia-led trade bloc that also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, aimed at creating a single market across parts of the former Soviet Union.
Russia’s push into Southeast Asia comes just days after Washington under President Donald Trump announced a new wave of sanctions on energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil for refusing to scale back operations in Ukraine.
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