Russia's new leader goes east on maiden foreign trip
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will travel to Kazakhstan and China this week on a maiden foreign trip intended to serve as a reminder that the troublesome West is not the only place Russia can find partners.
The Kremlin, given new confidence by the strong Russian economy, is keen to revive its global role and is looking for new allies at a time when its ties with the United States and the European Union are strained.
Medvedev took over the presidency from his mentor Vladimir Putin earlier this month. He will fly on Thursday to Kazakhstan, Central Asia's biggest oil producer, and from there travel on to Beijing.
His first foray to the West will come later this month, when he travels to Germany for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"The symbolism of the visit (to China and Kazakhstan) is obvious," Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the journal Russia in Global Affairs, told Reuters.
"Russia is demonstrating it has other partners apart from the West and will pursue a multi-dimensional foreign policy."
Moscow has been annoyed by what it views as Western attempts to contain its diplomatic ambitions and keep Russian companies out of lucrative markets.
The start of talks on a new strategic partnership pact between Russia and the European Union has been blocked for nearly two years because of trade disputes, frustrating efforts to deepen political and economic relations with the bloc.
Moscow has also been angered by Western support for bids by ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO -- moves viewed by Russia as poaching in its traditional sphere of interests and a threat to its national security.
Despite the strains, Russian officials are keen to stress that the visits to China and Kazakhstan are not an anti-Western gesture.
"It's rather a sign that Russia will follow a balanced foreign policy," one government official, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters. "Just days after the Asian trip Medvedev will fly to Germany."
EASTERN PROMISE
Moscow sees huge potential for developing ties with its eastern neighbors -- especially China which represents a hungry and largely untapped market for Russian oil and gas.
Moscow and Beijing are the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) -- a regional grouping which claims a strong security role in Central Asia and is seen in Moscow as an alternative to Western political domination.
But the new Russian president also has to address concerns at home about China's growing military and economic might.
"China's weight in the SCO is growing fast," Lukyanov said. "Medvedev will face the difficult task of building up the grouping as an a diplomatic alternative for Moscow without allowing Russia to find itself a junior partner."
In Kazakhstan, Medvedev faces another tricky task: persuading the country's leaders not be wooed by Western suitors who want access to the region's energy resources.
A traditional Moscow ally, Kazakhstan is central in Moscow's strategy of keeping Central Asian gas under its influence. The main export routes for hydrocarbons from the region already pass through Russian territory.
To provide export capacity for extra gas volumes that are expected to come on stream, Russia has struck a deal with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to revive a Soviet-era pipeline network that channels gas via Russian territory.
But Central Asia's three gas producers are also being courted by the West. U.S. and EU officials are pushing plans for a pipeline under the Caspian Sea which would direct the flow of gas bound for Europe away from Russia.
(Additional reporting by Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty; editing by Keith Weir)
