More countries are openly flaunting their ties with Putin. They say it’s just business.

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More countries are openly flaunting their ties with ******. They say it’s just business.

Russian President Vladimir ****** is meeting leaders from China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia amid heavy sanctions.

Russia seeks to end diplomatic isolation by engaging with “swing nations” beyond autocratic allies.

Despite sanctions, Russia ******** a key global economy and energy supplier.

Russian President Vladimir ****** is having a very social year as his country continues to wage war in Ukraine.

So far, ****** has met top leaders from ****** countries including

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and

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That’s plenty of publicity for a heavily sanctioned individual from a country facing sweeping trade restrictions.

And there’s a strategic reason for all those meetings, Sean McFate, an adjunct professor at the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, told Business Insider.

Russia is trying to emerge from diplomatic isolation and is looking to forge strategic relationships beyond autocratic partners like China, North Korea, and Iran, McFate said.

“****** is eyeing strategic swing nations like India, which opposes China and trades with Russia,” he added. “That gives Russia some advantage over China, as their relationship has chilled somewhat.”

On Wednesday, ****** rubbed shoulders with

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Anwar Ibrahim in Russia. The two countries were set to discuss a range of issues, including trade and investment.

This meeting came on the heels of ******’s trip to

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where he met President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh.

Mongolia, as a member of the International ********* Court, should have

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who has an ICC arrest warrant against him.

But the East ****** nation said it couldn’t throw ****** in jail because it depends on Russia — an oil and gas giant — for its energy security.

“This supply is critical to ensure our existence and that of our people,” a Mongolian government spokesperson told

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It’s about neutrality — and the economy

Mongolia’s explanation underscores the scale of Russia’s economy. It’s the 11th largest in the world and has an annual GDP of about $2 trillion, according to the

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While Russia’s economy pales in comparison to the US’ $27.4 trillion GDP, Russia is still an important partner for many developing economies.

In particular,

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accounts for about one-tenth of the world’s oil production, making it an important resource supplier.

Before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s single largest trading partner was the ********* Union.

In the last two years, Russia has managed to pivot to supplying

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as well as nearly anyone who wants to buy discounted energy, be it

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when it was in an economic meltdown just two years ago or

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— a NATO member and aspiring EU member.

While some countries, like China and Vietnam, have historical ties with Russia, others, like India and Sri Lanka, have also cited economic self-interest for their ongoing relationship with Russia — particularly if they’re in difficult conditions themselves. Most, if not all of them, have also taken a neutral position on the war in Ukraine.

Serik Zhumangarin, Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister, told

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last month that the country would no longer “blindly follow the sanctions” if the restrictions impact the country’s key companies. Russia was Kazakhstan’s largest trade partner before the war started.

He told the media outlet that some of the sanctions against Moscow had hurt Kazakhstan more than Russia, and the West has done nothing to compensate the Central ****** nation.

Using the economy to explain cozy diplomatic relationships with Russia appears to be gaining favor now that the Ukraine war is in its 31st month.

After all, Russia is a

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that even the

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is still trying to decouple from.

Even China, which in 2022 declared its friendship with Russia as a partnership with “no limits,” now appears to be more keen on presenting the relationship in more pragmatic, businesslike terms.

Just last month,

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Vice Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Russia as one that seeks “complementary advantages and huge potential for practical cooperation” between Moscow and Beijing.

Russia is wooing the Global South

Partnering with Russia on economic terms is unlikely to alarm the US and Europe, even if there are

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and

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“Russia’s foreign policy blitz is unlikely to be a threat to the EU and NATO,” Syracuse University’s McFate said.

That’s because Moscow is not making military alliances with partner countries to ******* Europe, which views Russia as its top threat, he said. For the US, Russia is a distant second after China.

Even so, there still may be changes afoot.

Moscow is pushing a narrative of the Global South as a force in shaping an alternative world order, with the emerging nations of

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— anchored by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South ******* — forming an economic bloc.

Russia is the BRICS chair this year, and ****** has invited Mongolia to join the group’s summit in October. Malaysia applied to join the group, and

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is also considering an invitation to join the bloc.

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has also said it’s interested in joining the group.

“Indonesia, Malaysia, and Mongolia are an interesting test of those nations’ ‘neutrality’ toward China, the US, international law (e.g., ICC), and the authority of the ******* Nations system,” McFate said.

Russia’s push for a multipolar world order resonates with countries who ******* a more equitable international order. And Moscow has shown it does have influence over lower- and middle-income countries, as evidenced by the non-participation or low-level participation of some ****** countries in June’s Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland, Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at RAND, a think tank, wrote in a July

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for Foreign Policy.

“While Russia’s sway is not at the level of China’s or the ******* States’, it is certainly enough to promote its anti-Western interests and disrupt the already precarious regional order,” wrote Grossman.

Countries around the world are weighing the dynamics.

“Regional allies will watch with interest to see if great powers can be played off each other,” McFate said.

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#countries #openly #flaunting #ties #****** #business

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