AP Photo

Meanwhile, Putin is impatient to open Russia’s window to the East in Vladivostok, emulating Peter the Great, who once opened Russia’s window to the West by founding St Petersburg. APEC delegates can expect to see in the Far East what Ishaev calls ‘Russia’s face in the Asia-Pacific and a platform for the development of partnership, cooperation, and integration between Russia and the Asia-Pacific region’. They will also see a bridge that, according to Medvedev, outshines San Francisco’s Golden Gate and the new campus of the Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island at the backdrop of a fireworks and laser show worth nearly US$9 million.