Russia's pivot to South China Sea: Decoding Putin's North Korea, Vietnam visits

Russian President Vladimir Putin's latest move released from his quiver of strategies is to shift the area of contestation from Ukraine to the South China Sea read more Russia, until late 2021, maintained a neutral position over the South China Sea (SCS) dispute and believed that extra-regional powers should not interfere in an extremely local dispute. Having said that, Moscow itself is done with that stance. In June, President Vladimir Putin was on a two-country Asia tour, where he signed agreements and held talks with North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and Vietnam. These two countries are critical…