The main trends of Russia’s military-political cooperation with India and Southeast Asian countries

• A.S. Golobokov Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service, Vladivostok. Russia

The paper reviews various features of energy cooperation of Russia with India and the Southeast Asian countries. The goal is to analyze the features of Russian naval exercises with India, Vietnam and the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos in recent years, considering diversification of Russian activities in the region. The research is topical due to ambiguity of the assessment of bilateral and multilateral military-political cooperation between Russia and the Asia-Pacific countries, and is determined not only by general political and economic motives, but also aimed at solving a whole range of urgent tasks formed by the challenges of regional security in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.  Multiple-factor  analysis  on  the  dynamics  of  military-political  cooperation  reflected in official documents and media reports, the actions of stakeholders and the results of joint activities proposed. The conclusion is made, that Russia demonstrates interest in the multilateral format of naval cooperation and at the same time influences regional security and the balance of forces in the region. Along with the strengthening of the  strategic  partnership  between  China  and  Russia,  the  level  of  interaction  between Russia and the countries of Southeast Asia directly reflects the level of political partnership. The significance of the work is in analysis of naval interaction between Russia and the countries of Southeast Asia, given the changing balance of forces and threats in the direction of the Asian states in the Indo-Asian region. The results are valuable to politicians, diplomats, scientists studying the security model in the Asia-Pacific region.
Keywords: Asia-Pacific region, strategic partnership, naval cooperation, regional security, national interest, international relations, Russia, India, naval exercises, national policy, U.S.