Saratoga Launches New Research Initiative: "The Creeping Sinicization of Russia"
Sergey Sukhankin
Washington, D.C. — July 24, 2025 — The Saratoga Foundation is proud to announce the launch of a bold new research initiative entitled “The Creeping Sinicization of Russia”, led by Dr. Sergey Sukhankin, Senior Fellow at The Saratoga Foundation. This project will investigate China’s accelerating encroachment into the Russian Far East, focusing on the geopolitical, economic, demographic, and cultural dimensions of this growing phenomenon.
Russia’s strategic decline was evident even before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Now, after more than three years of war, the Kremlin’s vulnerabilities—economic, diplomatic, and demographic—have deepened significantly. Amid this deterioration, China has quietly but assertively positioned itself as a dominant force in the Russian Far East, leveraging access to underpriced resources and reviving historical territorial claims, such as the publication of a map by the Global Times depicting disputed territory with Russia as being within China's borders.
“Increasingly, Beijing is using both economic means and historical narratives to assert itself in the Russian Far East,” said Dr. Sukhankin. “This region has become a crucial case study in how a weakened Russia is being gradually absorbed into China’s long-term strategic ambitions.”
The project will draw from extensive Russian-language sources and offer original analysis on how China’s creeping absorption of this resource-rich and geopolitically strategic region could reshape global power dynamics. It will examine how the growing asymmetry between Moscow and Beijing may alter the trajectory of the Sino-Russian partnership, with wide-ranging consequences for U.S. strategic interests.
This initiative will assess how the United States can more effectively respond to this emerging geopolitical realignment. “In a time of close relations between Russia and China, it is imperative that US policymakers develop a clearer understanding of how and where friction exists between Russia and China,” noted Saratoga Foundation President, Glen E. Howard. “By identifying the hidden fault lines in this partnership, Washington can begin to craft more nuanced policies that prevent China from unilaterally dominating Eurasia.”
The Saratoga Foundation was established to deepen public awareness of the broader, dynamic landscape of the Eurasian chessboard, drawing on the writings and insights of some of the world’s leading strategic thinkers and experts. For media inquiries about our new initiative or to schedule an interview with Dr. Sukhankin, please contact: info@saratoga-foundation.org
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