Russia's Allies Are Shrinking: The Economist

“The West’s plans to isolate Russia by surrounding us with a sanitary cordon have been a fiasco,” Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, gloated recently. “We are strengthening good neighborly relations…with the international majority,” The Economist reported.

Photo Insert: China and India have refused to become rah-rah boys for Russia even as they benefit economically from low-priced oil and gas.

At first glance, Lavrov seems to have a point. On February 23rd, the day before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 39 countries refused to back a United Nations (UN) resolution condemning it.

Despite the US and its allies imposing sanctions, Russia’s economy and trade have held up surprisingly well. Lavrov has merrily racked up air miles to foreign capitals. On paper, Russia’s geopolitical clout looks impressive. It has troops and mercenaries posted to at least 16 other countries.

Some prop up friendly autocrats, as in Mali and Syria. Others sustain “frozen conflicts” that keep countries such as Georgia in line and out of NATO.

Over the past decade, Russia has accounted for more than half of arms imports in 22 different countries, including big ones such as China and India. At the UN it has benefited from the support, or at least useful abstentions, of dozens of countries.

Yet, China and India have refused to become rah-rah boys for Russia even as they benefit economically from low-priced oil and gas.

The fact is that the Russian coalition is not even a coalition but a club for abstention as these countries are dependent more on the US and the West for trade and investments and they wouldn’t rock the boat, so to speak.

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan back Ukraine and Armenia have refused to support Russia after it botched its role as a peacemaker in the dispute in the Nagorno-Karabakh region that has caused two wars between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

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