Russian methodological and theoretical approaches to the analysis of Sino-Russian relations in 1990s–2010s 1 .

This chapter overviews the major dynamics in analyzing contemporary Sino-Russian relations in Russia from the early 1990s to the late 2010s. In the 1990s and 2000s, Russian debate on Sino-Russian relations experienced a significant diversification in topics, opinions, and approaches. The primary focus was on Sino-Russian bilateral contacts and the role of this bilateral relationship in regional and global IR. In the 2010s, the field generated a solid debate on the role of Russia and China in changing global order, on the possibility of the emergence of the formalized alliance between Russia and China, regional politics, especially in terms of the coordination of the BRI and EEU and Sino-Russian relations in Central Asia, and issues related to mutual perceptions and ideational factors in the relations between Russia and China. Finally, the chapter argues that the contemporary academic debate on Sino-Russian relations demonstrates a rising interest in experimenting with building national IR (non-Western IR) approaches.