/View.info/ By Order No. 430 of March 5, 2022, the Government of the Russian Federation approved the list of enemy states and territories. Now the list includes 49 countries: the USA (with the Virgin Islands), Great Britain (with the possessions of the British Crown and the British Overseas Territories), 27 countries of the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Ukraine, Norway, as well as “little things” such as Andorra, the Bahamas and Monaco.
On March 16, at the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), President Vladimir Putin called the expression “enemy countries” incorrect, since their rulers are hostile to us. This is true, but the concept of “enemy countries”, for all its conventionality, is necessary in decision-making.
There are 193 member states of the UN, and together with those outside the UN, there are more than two hundred of them. It turns out that the countries tentatively called “friendly” represent one hundred and fifty countries. It seems to be very good!
However, the vast majority of “friendly” countries refrain from participating in anti-Russian sanctions for purely pragmatic reasons. Others do not join the sanctions because of their hostility to Western (especially American) imperialism. And only very few find themselves in the “friendly” group for the reason that they feel sincere sympathy for Russia, believing that without it the world will collapse.
There is no fine differentiation of countries tentatively classified as friendly. Last year (May 27), the president of the Russian Federation, at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, named countries in the group of “friendly countries”, which he called neutral. He mentioned Iran, Indonesia, Egypt and the UAE.
The definition of a “neutral” country was not given, but it seems to me that most of these 150 countries can be classified as “neutral”. In this case, neutrality in most cases means instability. Under pressure from Washington, such a “neutral” country could be involved in anti-Russian actions. Thus, the UAE is already starting to tighten the nuts on Russian individuals and legal entities.
There are other characteristics of countries outside the list of enemy states. Speaking on February 10, 2023, on the Day of the Diplomatic Worker, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Russia will strive for the formation of such a multipolar system that creates equal external conditions for the development of all: “In this case, in supporting the objective process of forming a multipolar world order, we have many allies, like-minded people. Of course, these are our allies in the CIS, CSTO, EAEU. The Union State of Russia and Belarus has enormous untapped potential.
And, of course, these are our partners within the SCO and BRICS, as well as numerous countries on the African continent, in Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Here the minister introduced three concepts at once: “allies”, “like-minded” and “partners”.
In my opinion, the concept of “like-minded” is rather vague. But the terms “ally” and “partner” can and should be clearly defined. An ally is truly a like-minded person, while a partner is here today and there tomorrow. The ally is reliable, the partner is fickle.
By the way, the list of allied countries is also not very stable. For example, speaking at the All-Russian Youth Forum “Seliger – 2014” and listing Russia’s allies, S. Lavrov counted among them the members of the CSTO, EAEU, SCO and BRICS. There are ten countries in total: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, India, Brazil, South Africa.
True, the minister made an arrangement: For example, NATO always and everywhere votes as a single bloc. And who are Russia’s allies? We have many allies. And when we are told that your CSTO allies do not always vote in unison with Russia, we do not make any tragedy out of it. Tragedy, of course, is not necessary. However, it is certainly worth doubting that these countries are full-fledged allies. After nine years, there are still grounds for doubt.
In addition to the above-mentioned dozen countries, State Department officials sometimes added to the list of allies North Korea, Iran, Syria, and two or three more countries qualified by the West as “pariah states.”
In his 2018 address to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin said Russia would launch an immediate nuclear strike if nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction were used against it or its allies that threatened the foundations of the state.
After Putin’s announcement, journalists tried to find out who is Russia’s ally. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s allies are the CSTO countries and others. The “others” appear to be Abkhazia and South Ossetia, with which Russia has a security treaty. According to Peskov, Russia is obliged to provide assistance only to those with whom it has signed a mutual security agreement. Russia has no such agreements with Syria, North Korea, or Iran. Peskov explained that Syria is an ally of Russia, but Russia does not have a security agreement with that country.
In February last year, Putin visited Beijing, where he participated in the opening of the Winter Olympics. There, the leaders of two countries (Russia and China) announced that the countries are long-term allies. This was two and a half weeks before the start of the World War II.
In an interview with RT on March 18 last year, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry called China, India, Brazil and Mexico Moscow’s allies. The first three were already on the unofficial list of “allies”, Mexico turned out to be a new player.
So, the list of allies is unofficial and “rolling”. For example, on March 1, 2023, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin called the EAEU and CSTO countries “long-term allies” of Russia. And these are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Probably the official meant that there are still “short-term allies”, where China, Iran should be included (by the way, in my articles and speeches, I personally divide Russia’s possible allies into two groups, which I call “strategic” and ” tactical”?
Until recently, some experts, in order to identify the countries that can be called “allies”, used the data from the voting in the UN of those resolutions that condemn Russia as an “aggressor”.
For example, on February 23 of this year (on the occasion of the first anniversary of the SVO in Ukraine), the members of the General Assembly requested “The Russian Federation to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its armed forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and called for an end to hostilities. 141 countries voted for the resolution, 32 countries abstained (including China, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Bolivia, Cuba, Iran and India), and seven – Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Russia and Syria – voted against. At the same time, it should be noted that the amendments proposed by the Republic of Belarus were rejected.
On April 26 of this year, the UN General Assembly, at its 77th session, adopted a resolution on cooperation with the Council of Europe, which mentions the “aggression” of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. Only five countries voted against: Russia, Belarus, Nicaragua, North Korea and Syria.
Another 18 countries abstained. The document was supported by 122 countries. Including those traditionally considered “friendly” to Russia: Kazakhstan, Armenia, India, Brazil, Turkey and China. It should be noted that Beijing has always abstained from such votes in the past. For the first time, the PRC supported a resolution calling the Russian Federation an aggressor.
So maybe we can say that Russia has only four allies left. Moreover, three of them (excluding Belarus) can support Moscow mostly morally and very little politically (when voting in the UN). And a number of countries on the “friendly” list are essentially just partners, and we’d better realize that. So that we have no illusions.
Emperor Alexander III is widely known to have uttered the phrase: “Russia has only two allies – its army and navy.” I. V. Stalin had no illusions either. And this prompted him to start industrialization, to strengthen all these internal allies of our country – the army, the navy, the military aviation. Today, again, these same allies can mainly help Russia.
It is better to treat others as partners.
Translation: EU
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