Boris Titov, Russia’s Presidential Business Rights Commissioner, in an interview with RIA Novosti on Wednesday, said that Russia is in the process of steadily reorienting its trade and business relationships away from the “static” West, and toward Asia.

From the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Titov said that although the process began initially due to political motivations following the imposition of Western sanctions against Moscow, since then it has evolved into an entirely economically-driven process.

He said, “Until recently, the process of Russia’s turn to the East was largely due to political reasons, but today everything has changed dramatically… Now we can say with certainty that this turn is irreversible, and it is based not on political, but primarily economic reasons.”

Titov said that although the Western economic system is now well-developed, it has become, “too heavily invested and sluggish.”

He added, “In the East, on the other hand, everything is booming, moving forward rapidly, developing rapidly. And this applies not only to China, India, and Indonesia, but also to many other countries. They are the center of development today, not Europe, our main consumers of energy are there, finally.”

He said that entrepreneurs in Russia are discovering that it is more profitable for them to do their business in the East.

Titov concluded, “Even if we imagine that we will once again be friends with the West, that they will lift their sanctions, our businesses will not return to the West… It is much more interesting to enter the developing markets of the East and grow together than to remain static in the West.” 

In recent years, Russia has gradually developed ties with nations in the Global East and South, with the process accelerating greatly following the onset of the war in Ukraine and the sanctions the West would ultimately impose on Moscow.

As a result, Russia is now the biggest supplier of oil to both India and China, as well as the largest exporter of all goods to China overall.

The move has been popular with the Russian citizenry as well, with a recent survey by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) showing that 67% of Russia’s citizens approve of its pivot toward the East, with only 11% opposed to it.