Russia Strengthens Multipolarity with “Center 2026” and ‘Interaction 2026’ Military Exercises

Russia has done a remarkable job by strengthening the multipolar world and hosted Center 2026 and Interaction 2026 military exercises. These were multi-vectored military exercises.

There is no doubt the political overtone to both exercises was explicit. The West extended and broadened its military alliance with new member states and continued to constrain Russia’s strategic policies. Russia remains committed to its domestic military modernization and continues to retain international partners to remain at the centre of the ‘Non-West’ security architecture.

Why the Center 2026 Military Exercise in important?

The West’s policy toward Russia post the Ukraine conflict escalation has been to impose sanctions and diplomatic restrictions and to provide military support to Ukraine. A key component of this policy has been to limit Moscow’s international manoeuvrability. With Center 2026, the Western policy makers have been forced to rethink about the assumptions that have been made regarding the negative impact of Russia’s international manoeuvrability on the West and beyond. The Center 2026 manoeuvres were a clear indication that a significant number of countries are willing to cooperate with Russia, regardless of the policies of Washington and Brussels.

Because of China, this is a particularly interesting development from a strategic perspective. Rising multipolarity encourages us to rethink what alliances look like in the absence of Western leadership. Sino-Russian defence cooperation is not replicating anything close to the kind of highly institutionalized collective defence arrangement practiced by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Beijing has done everything to maintain its strategic independence. However, what is encouraging is that the cooperation that is growing, largely outside the West, does not have to entail strict alliances dominated by a superpower.........

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