Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s development within the Greater Eurasian Partnership – Russian viewpoint

The author analyses new directions of development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), examines the geopolitical reasons of their emergence, and identifies the role and place of the Organisation in the framework of the Greater Eurasian Partnership (GEP).The author also presents the Development Strategy of the SCO until 2025 and identifies the areas of common interests with the GEP’s development ideas, which are focused on the economic and trade-related measures along with the issues of political interaction and cooperation in the field of social security. In conclusion the author claims, that SCO countries are acting as “drivers” of regional development and making a concerted effort to create the necessary conditions for ensuring sustainable social and economic development. The new development directions of the SCO demonstrate that the Organisation is able to adapt to new conditions of the changing world, while its participation in new formats of interaction is in demand among the countries of the Eurasian continent

Russia and China will not rush to fill Afghan void

Significance For both states, a swift takeover of power in Afghanistan is preferable to either prolonged civil war or a power vacuum. Their objectives are more defensive than acquisitive: averting broader regional instability, preventing jihadist expansion in their spheres of influence and in Russia's case, blocking large refugee flows. Impacts Afghanistan's relevance to the Chinese-Russian relationship is likely to diminish. Russia and China will gain some leverage from deciding whether Afghanistan retains observer status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Russia has made it clear it wants no large refugee flows to Central Asia, still less to its own territory.

RUSSIA AND CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES IN YOUTH EXCHANGES WITHIN THE SCO

Youth exchanges have become an essential component of people-to-people exchanges in international relations, both in bilateral and multilateral formats. This paper analyses the participation of Russia and its Central Asian partners (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) in youth exchanges in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The authors consequently discuss the institutional structure and formats of the multilateral cooperation, its development within the last decade, and the representation and role of the member states. The research is based on the study of the SCO multilateral documents, SCO institutions’ documentation, official addresses and interviews of the SCO politicians and NGO leaders, online news archives of NGOs and media. The authors conclude that the SCO has formed a multilateral cooperation mechanism for youth exchanges, in which Russia and Central Asia are fully represented, with minor exclusions. Meanwhile, the cooperation demonstrates the evident rivalry between Russia and China in this cooperation. The Central Asian countries have become subject to this rivalry, however, at the same time they have already started to put forward their own initiatives, too, which can be significant for the development of multilateral dialogue. Finally, the paper discusses the potential benefits of cooperation for its participants.

China and The OSCE’s Security Identity Crisis

This study attempts to explore how China as an external actor bordering the OSCE region facilitates and amplifies the norm contestation in the OSCE’s wider region. We argue that China can use the OSCE’s internal leadership and security crisis for its own strategic advantage by further weakening the OSCE participating States’ commitments in the human dimension and their support for democratic institutions. We discuss the aforementioned through the case of the persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang. The research findings indicate that China uses its policy tools to accomplish its objectives: it seeks to expand and strengthen the network of supporting states in regard to Xinjiang; it uses its diplomats as outlets of propaganda and disinformation to deny the persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang and to present China as a benign actor; it uses multilateral institutions such as Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as a platform to build support for its alternative regional security governance model. We conclude that this policy posture undermines the work of the OSCE and trust in its values, norms, and practices.

EURASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK. THE MAIN DIRECTIONS OF FINANCIAL AND EXPERT-ANALYTICAL ACTIVITIES (2006–2020)

The article is devoted to the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB). It considers activities of the Eurasian Development Bank throughout the entire period of its operation – from the moment of its establishment on the initiative of the Presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 until the end of 2020. The author of the article shows that over the years of its existence, the Eurasian Development Bank, which currently includes, in addition to the two founding countries, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, has become an important institution of international and transregional financial and economic cooperation in the Eurasian Economic Union. The paper describes the foundational documents of the Bank as its Development Strategy for the periods 2008–2010; 2011–2013; 2014–2017 and 2018–2022. It analyzes the organizational structure of the Bank, the dynamics of changes in the current investment portfolio, the cooperation of the Eurasian Development Bank with the Eurasian Economic Commission, the development institutions of the Eurasian Economic Union, Commonwealth of Independent States, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS, etc. Much attention is paid to various forms of expert and analytical activities of the Eurasian Development Bank aimed at strengthening the Eurasian financial and economic integration: periodic analytical publications of the Bank, its annu- al international conferences and Round Tables on Eurasian integration, as well as the preparation and holding in December 2020 – the First Eurasian Congress of the Bank, which was attended by representative delegations of all countries – participants of the Eurasian Development Bank, as well as other post-Soviet countries, integration associations, business circles and the expert community.