RFA’s Luna Pham travels to Phuket to find out why the Thai resort island has become a popular destination for wealthy Russians, who are driving a recovery of the local real estate market. 

Russia’s ties with East and Southeast Asia go back decades, and while those connections weakened with the end of the Cold War, they never disappeared. Now, with Russia’s increasing isolation following its invasion of Ukraine, the relationships have taken on greater significance.

In Bear East, RFA examines, country-by-country, how those links have evolved in terms of the defense trade, as well as government, business and people-to-people ties. Read the complete series at https://en.rfa.org/BearEast.

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