Eurasia in Russian Foreign Policy: Interests, Opportunities and Constraints

... could connect China to the EU and Middle Eastern markets. In 2013, the Chinese President first proposed the idea of building a Silk Road Economic Belt and, in May 2015, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping agreed to investigate the possibility of linking up the ... ... Afghanistan, US interests in the region are now focused on shoring up the Afghan government. The region is also important to the USA as a theatre in which to contain the economic influence of China and to block integration projects involving Russia. In addition,...