Russia in the Pacific: The Quest for Great Power Recognition

Russia in the Pacific approaches the puzzle of why Russia, with much of its huge territory straddling Asia, has not had more success in establishing a position as a great power in the Asia Pacific. Russian leaders from Nicholas II in the late nineteenth century to Vladimir Putin in the twenty-first have periodically advanced policies to gain territory or influence, secure buffer zones in the region, develop the sparsely populated Far East and protect it against foreign intervention, and int...