In 2012, with transitions and transformations shaping the global political landscape, Russia has been gradually adjusting its relationship with the world.

Since his return to the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin has made relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members, the European Union (EU) and the United States as major components of Russia's foreign policy.

However, as economic woes have been gripping the European continent and hard clot blocking the blood vessels of Russia-US ties, Russia has shifted its diplomatic priorities to the east, especially the Asia-Pacific region.

Zoom in and stretch out

With the expansion of the EU and the deployment of the US missile shield in Europe, Russia is alarmed with its shrinking strategic space in the western region and endeavors to strengthen ties with old brothers and eastern partners.

In June, Putin visited Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and China during his first round of foreign tour, making a clear gesture to the world: Russia is seeking deeper cooperation with Beijing and closer ties with CIS members.

Yelena Yatsenko, president of the Eurasia Heritage Foundation, said China and the CIS are Moscow's foreign policy priorities, which are engraved in its diplomatic conception. "Putin implemented this conception practically during his first two terms in Kremlin and keeps following that path during his third term," the expert said.

Meanwhile, Russia has been eagerly fostering integration with former Soviet republics of Belarus and Kazakhstan in the past few years. The three countries have agreed to set up a Eurasian economic union, an EU-style intergovernmental economic mechanism to facilitate free flow of people, capital and goods.

The trio is also a backbone of the Customs Union and other regional blocs in Eurasia.

As Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov once said, strengthening integration and coordination with CIS members "has been and will always be" Russia's strategic choice following the trend of globalization.

The Asia-Pacific region is also of great strategic significance to Russia, as the world's largest country has more than 70 percent of its land located in Asia.

Eager to promote industry modernization and innovative growth, Russia needs Asian countries to provide it with technologies, human capital and energy markets.

In his state-of-the-nation address on Dec. 12, Putin highlighted the eastward policy, saying Russia would further develop its Far East to get integrated into the Eastern world.

Among a number of Asian countries, China is always Russia's major strategic partner. In one of his articles, Putin called on Russia to deepen ties with the giant neighbor so as to "catch the 'Chinese wind' in our economic sails."

Fyodor Lukyanov, chief editor of the Russia in Global Affairs journal, said Russia-China strategic ties is not just in name only, but also will keep in good shape as the two countries need each other so much.

Sluggish car on a bumpy road

In recent years, Moscow and Washington have witnessed a "reset" of bilateral relations. Although both sides periodically push the button, the sluggish car has got stuck on the bumpy road.

Putin's absence from the Group of Eight summit this summer and his US counterpart Barack Obama's no-show decision at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Russia's Vladivostok in September augured a cool-down of the already soured Russia-US relations amidst Putin's tough words concerning the US-led missile defense system in Europe.

Some hoped Obama's re-election could provide an opportunity for both sides to boost their pragmatic cooperation, yet thorny issues like the Magnitsky Act, passed by the US Congress targeting Russian officials implicated in the prison death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, still stood in the way.

The two sides also remained divided over solutions toward the Syria crisis and frequently spat over human rights issues.

Alexander Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis in Russia, said Putin had called on the two countries to build an economic base of their relations to safeguard coherent cooperation regardless of political changes in both countries. However, the result is not so obvious and promising.

Russia and the United States did not deliberately sabotage each other's efforts to move forward. Instead, both have realized the necessity to abandon the obsolete cold-war mindset.

Americans know their interests lie in a stable and prosperous Russia tightly interwoven with the world. It will be a zero-sum game if both take each other as the "main geopolitical foe," experts said.

The reason why the car did not move ahead was that the two countries had very little interest in common, be it for good or for bad. "Moscow and Washington kick a dead horse all the time, and this stalemate seems not to end any time soon," Khramchikhin said.

Clus partnership

Relations between Russia and the EU, two big powers in the world arena, have not yielded much plump fruits this year due to their deep-rooted divergence and mistrust.

Russia was tired of Western countries' doctrine on democracy and its political life, while Europe took Moscow merely as an energy supplier rather than a real partner or economic competitor, experts said.

The two sides were unlikely to reach a visa-free agreement in the foreseeable future, which would require a consensus of all 27 EU members or, at least, the members of Schengen Treaty.

"Such an agreement cannot be achieved in the current situation where many European countries consider Russia and Russians as utter aliens," Khramchikhin told Xinhua.

Politically and mentally, Russia is not seen by Europe as "one of us," and this is a root of stagnating development of their relations, as "you are not going to give your milkman the keys to your home," Khramchikhin noted.

For Moscow, it was much more comfortable to work with European countries on a bilateral basis. North and South Stream pipelines are the result of such "cool pragmatism" which will bring more fruits to both sides than Moscow sealing deals with the EU as a single entity.

The European Union as a whole is an awkward partner for Russia and its charisma is gradually fading away with mounting economic woes, experts said.

As the sovereign-debt default domino is striking down Greece, Italy, and Spain and shaking up core economies such as Germany and France, the whole bloc is struggling to escape the recession threat. It is among Russia's choices of cooperation, but not a prioritized partner any longer, experts said.

Regarding the missile defense buildup near Russia's borders, NATO would not offer Moscow the legal guarantees it demanded, while the latter would not overcome its twitchiness over the deployment. Therefore, the arm-wrestling would continue, said the experts.