Russia’s support for authoritarian regimes through food trade

ABSTRACT

The article explores the ramifications of Russia’s food hegemony. Russia is already a grain hegemon and other commodities are trending in that direction. From its hegemonic position, weaponised food trade allows Russia to convert its resource power to support an authoritarian ecosystem. Russia’s food trade benefits itself and other authoritarian regimes. Grain imports from Russia help maintain food security in authoritarian states, and indirectly, their political stability. The use of grain trade to support authoritarian regimes is important because doing so strengthens countries that do not share Western values. Weaponised food trade further undermines the free trade values that underlie the current global order.

KEYWORDS:

• Russia
• food exports
• authoritarian regimes
• food security
• food hegemony
• wheat exports

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Original Comecon members included Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, USSR, and Czechoslovakia. The German Democratic Republic joined Comecon in 1950, Mongolia joined in 1962, Cuba joined in 1972, and Vietnam joined in 1978.

2. Detailed data on foreign trade are difficult to obtain starting in early 2022. The Ministry of Agriculture’s website (www.mcx.ru) has been blocked to Western viewers since February 2022. This website had a section that detailed recipients, volume, and value of agri-food trade. Likewise, the Federal Customs Agency website (www.customs.ru) is also blocked where detailed data on trade could be found. Starting in 2022, one has to piece together trade patterns with macro-data and statements in the press.

3. The five members of the EAEU are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.

Additional information

Funding

No special funding was obtained for this article.