International Relations in South Asia: Russia’s and Sri Lanka’s Views

... help relieve tensions. Western critics have argued that Russia may in future utilize the presence of the Islamic State in the region as an opportunity to increase its influence through military and economic assistance. Others portend that China’s BRI may create favourable conditions for Russia to exploit regional structural weaknesses to its advantage and attenuate any alignment between South Asian countries and the West through a geo-political toolkit. The strengthening of security ties between Islamabad and Moscow have often been cited as a manifestation of this. Sri Lanka, in particular, faces a gamut of traditional and non-traditional ...