Russia Looking Towards Europe Economically

Patriarchate of Moscow

While the Russian Orthodox seem to be looking toward the Vatican (see Ecumenism Advancing), there are indications that Russia itself is looking towards Europe economically.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

The severe blow dealt to Russia by the West’s financial crisis is prompting a recalibration of Russia’s foreign policy. Among the ideas now surfacing in Moscow: a much closer relationship between Russia and the European Union…

A draft report prepared by Russian members of the Valdai International Discussion Club, a group of academics and journalists who met over the past week in Russia, spelled out that fear. Unless Russia and the EU join forces and develop a strategy for co-development, the report said, “their international political influence will most likely be doomed to degradation.” Without that alliance, the report said, Europe would turn into a “monument to its old grandeur,” while Russia would risk becoming a raw-materials backyard for a rising Asia…

One motive for moving closer to Europe, some analysts say, is fear of China’s economic powerhouse and what it will mean for Russia’s increasingly sparsely populated lands. (United Nations projections suggest by 2050 there will be 116 million Russians and 1.4 billion Chinese, compared with 140 million Russians and 1.3 billion Chinese now.) (Fidler S. Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2010. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704505804575483451995018566.html)

Russia is realizing that perhaps it needs to look West and not East for its future.

Interestingly, the Bible identifies the ancient ancestors of the Russians as traders in the future:

13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders. They bartered human lives and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. 14 Those from the house of Togarmah traded for your wares with horses, steeds, and mules (Ezekiel 27:13-14).

Today, Russia is a major trader of commodities such as oil and gold. It also exports copper, which is the major component of bronze. Europe buys commodities, like oil, from Russia.

The Bible does strongly indicate that nations like Russia will benefit economically from the coming European superpower:

3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury (Revelation 18:3).

Thus, Russia seems prophesied to attain wealth from the coming restored European Empire, but Russia will not then be leading the most powerful block of nations in the world.

However, even though it will apparently look West for a while, various prophetic books (Daniel 11:44; Ezekiel 38:1-6) suggest that it will unite with powers in the East and turn on Europe, the “daughter of Babylon” (Jeremiah 50:41-43).

But until then, Russia may look towards Europe.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Russia: Its Origins and Prophesied Future Russia in prophecy. Where do the Russians come from? What about those in the Ukraine? What is prophesied for Russia and its allies? What will they do to the Europeans that supported the Beast in the end?
Is Russia the King of the North? Some claim it is. But what does the Bible teach?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe?