A quarter of a century after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is back in Southeast Asia, where creeping authoritarianism is giving Moscow room to maneuver, writes Yukako Ono and Natsuki Kaneko for Nikkei Asia Review. Since hosting the first ever meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) defense ministers in Moscow last April, Russia has worked to diversify its economic, diplomatic and security ties throughout the region, according to Bloomberg. Southeast Asia’s importance in the global economy and regionalism in the Asia Pacific, coupled with its relative lack of political cohesion and a deepening internal rift over the South China Sea dispute, make it an attractive arena for Russia’s increasingly assertive foreign policy, writes Alexander Bukh for East Asia Forum.