The aim of this article is to identify areas of Russia’s strategic presence in the
Indian Ocean region. In recent years, the Indian Ocean region has increasingly become an arena of strategic rivalry between great powers, primarily China and the United States, as well as China and India. A significant part of the planet’s conflict potential – military, territorial, ethno-confessional, environmental conflicts – is concentrated in the Indo-Pacific space. In the 21st century, the geopolitical significance of the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific has become more tangible both in the geo-economic and security aspects. The Indian
Ocean region, stretching from the east coast of Africa to the Pacific zone, which includes New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Indochina, has always been of strategic importance for Russia. During the Soviet period, Moscow maintained a permanent, including naval, presence in the Indian Ocean. With the end of the Cold War, the Russian Navy effectively withdrew from the Indian Ocean. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia, due to predominantly internal circumstances, could not pay the
same attention to the Indian Ocean region, but in recent years there has been a growing activity of Moscow in regional affairs. The Indian Ocean direction is defined as one of the six priority regional directions in Russia’s maritime policy along with the Arctic, Pacific, Atlantic, and Caspian. Russia’s long-term strategic interaction with the Indian Ocean region includes four main areas: geopolitical – expanding influence by attracting partners, participating in international associations; military-strategic – the fight against asymmetric security threats, including assistance to regional partners against organized crime, piracy