128
An internal Russian government report, released in April 2024, showed how Russia's war against Ukraine has damaged ties with some of its closest allies.
The analysis, published in the Financial Times (FT), acknowledges that Western sanctions pressure has driven a wedge between the Kremlin and its close trading partners. The report says Moscow's ambition is to restore access to global trade by placing Russia at the centre of a Eurasian trading bloc that would compete with the economic spheres of influence of the US, the EU and China.
The Russian authorities have aimed to create a “macroregion” as an important long-term project that would survive any negotiations with the West over the future of Ukraine, to help strengthen its position on the “global stage,” the report says.
“The new bloc will connect Russia with the global south, giving each side access to raw materials, developing financial and transport links, and uniting them through a common ‘worldview […] where we write the rules for the new world [and have] our own sanctions policy,” the report states.
At the same time, the report says that Western countries have successfully threatened Central Asian countries into complying with sanctions through a “carrot and stick” approach. Meanwhile, Russia’s allies have benefited from the sanctions by pushing Russian businesses out of their home jurisdictions.
In this regard, the report emphasizes that countries will have to “decide on their position on Russia.”
The publication noted that Kazakhstan, which has the largest economy in the region, condemned Russia's war against Ukraine, refused to recognize the annexation of Ukrainian territories and attempted to demonstrate compliance with Western sanctions. However, neighboring Kyrgyzstan has firmly sided with Russia and has become an important point on the path to evading Western sanctions.
The report singles out Belarus as Russia's most successful example of unification.
