Russia’s War in Ukraine: Deterrence and Resilience in Asia

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has not only disrupted the international norms and order but has also divided the globe in a manner similar to the Cold War. While Europe has largely united in confrontation against Russia, Asia’s policy responses reflect a complex landscape shaped by diverse national interests, strategic calculations, and historical legacies. Major Asian powers – Japan, South Korea, China, and India – have formulated their responses to Russia, revealing varied approaches to deterrence, alignment, and resilience. Japan and South Korea, as close allies of the United States, have joined Western-led sanctions, though differing in scope and intensity. In contrast, China and India have maintained strategic partnership with Russia, while cautiously avoiding direct confrontation with West and the United States. Beyond national-level foreign policy, the paper also investigates how these geo-political shifts affect Asia’s borderlands, with particular attention to the Japan–Russia borderlands. Once functioning as spaces of cross-border exchange and confidence-building despite unresolved territorial disputes, these borderlands have increasingly reverted to Cold War-style barriers under the strain of renewed geo-political tension. The study assesses how borderlands have responded and whether they still retain any capacity to facilitate future engagement. By integrating analyses of state-level policies and borderland dynamics, this paper contributes to the broader discourse on regional resilience, Cold War reoccurrence, and the evolving geo-political landscape in Asia following Russia’s war in Ukraine.