Moscow Aims to Treat Critical Minerals as Diplomatic Instruments

(Sergey Sukhankin – The Jamestown Foundation) Russia is increasingly treating critical minerals as instruments of foreign policy, using state-backed resource projects tos deepen long-term strategic partnerships across BRICS countries and the broader Global South rather than simply expanding commodity exports. Moscow’s approach combines upstream resource access with processing, technology cooperation, and existing nuclear-sector relationships. Sanctions, infrastructure constraints, and strong international competition, however, limit its ability to translate geological potential into industrial influence. Cooperation with India, Brazil, and Bolivia demonstrates that Russia’s critical-minerals diplomacy is tailored to local political and economic conditions but consistently seeks to embed resource cooperation within broader state-to-state strategic relationships. – Moscow Aims to Treat Critical Minerals as Diplomatic Instruments – Jamestown