Russia is influential in international organisations: a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it also participates in geoeconomic groups such as the G20, and BRICS+. Regionally, Russia leads the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. But relations with Western organisations such as NATO and the EU are strained, and the G8 suspended Russia as a member following its invasion of Ukraine. 

This week, Mark Leonard welcomes Sasha Gabuev, an expert on China and Russia, and director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, and Mikhail Komin, ECFR visiting fellow, and expert on authoritarian regimes, and Russian elites and bureaucracy. They discuss Russia’s motives for joining these organisations, and the impact on the West. Which international institutions is Russia most excited about? Does its membership present a threat to the West? And how can these multinational unions benefit Moscow? 

This podcast is part of Re:Order and was produced with support from Stiftung Mercator.

 This episode was recorded on August 7, 2024

Bookshelf:

Late-stage Putinism: The war in Ukraine and Russia’s shifting ideology by Mikhail Komin

Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury by Evan Osnos

The Rise of the Civilizational State by Christopher Coker

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