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The Director of the MIT Security Studies Program, Prof. M. Taylor Fravel: “The (Vostok-2022) Exercises Appear to Be Designed to Showcase Russia’s Central Asian Leadership.”

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It is expected that India will participate in the multi-national military exercise Vostok-2022, which will be held in Russia and China will also take part. It is stated that India, whose role in the exercises is expected to be limited at the level of the strategic command and military personnel, will also stay away from the maritime division in order not to harm Japan’s interests. In recent years, India has regularly participated in exercises by the United States and its allies. However, last year, India participated in Russia’s Zapad-2021 exercises together with China. This is interpreted as an effort that India try to make its foreign policy to more dimensional.

From this point of view, Ankara Center for Crisis and Policy Studies (ANKASAM) presents the views it received from Prof. M. Taylor Fravel, the Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Security Studies Program, in order to evaluate Russia’s Vostok-2022 exercises as well as the role of China and India in the drills.

  1. Do you think the military cooperation between China and Russia will increase further after Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan?

China-Russian cooperation has been increasingly slowly but steadily over the past decade. This Pelosi visit is unlikely to alter this trajectory.

  1. Could you evaluate the participation of India and China in “Vostok-2022” exercises within the scope of Central Asia and Indo-Pacific geopolitics?

The exercises appear to be designed to showcase Russia’s Central Asian leadership, by inviting mostly CA and adjacent states.

  1. While the tension between India and China on the border is still alive, how will these two countries come together? Can we interpret the coming exercise as “an effort to create a multipolar world”? Do you agree with this idea?

India has its own reasons for participating, as does China. I don’t think the exercises can be described as an effort to create a multipolar world.

  1. What does Russia aim at by getting China and India together in the same exercises? Do you think Russia is trying to show its muscles against the US after Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan?

My hunch is that India’s participation allows Russia to showcase differences within the West over the invasion of Ukraine. It likely has little to do with China.


Prof. Dr. M. Taylor Fravel
M. Taylor Fravel is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science and Director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was elected as a member of Andrew Cernegie by Carnegia Corporation in 2016. He is serving as principal researcher of National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and serves as the Principal Investigator for the Maritime Awareness Project. He holds masters degree from London School of Economics and Oxford University, and he received his PhD from Middlebury College and Stanford University. His research areas are international security, international relations, China and East Asia.

Dr. Cenk TAMER
Dr. Cenk TAMER
Dr. Cenk Tamer graduated from Sakarya University, Department of International Relations in 2014. In the same year, he started his master's degree at Gazi University, Department of Middle Eastern and African Studies. In 2016, Tamer completed his master's degree with his thesis titled "Iran's Iraq Policy after 1990", started working as a Research Assistant at ANKASAM in 2017 and was accepted to Gazi University International Relations PhD Program in the same year. Tamer, whose areas of specialization are Iran, Sects, Sufism, Mahdism, Identity Politics and Asia-Pacific and who speaks English fluently, completed his PhD education at Gazi University in 2022 with his thesis titled "Identity Construction Process and Mahdism in the Islamic Republic of Iran within the Framework of Social Constructionism Theory and Securitization Approach". He is currently working as an Asia-Pacific Specialist at ANKASAM.