Balancing ties: The countries lagging in their response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
As Europe throws its support towards Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion, a number of international players have remained quiet, trying to balance their ties between Kyiv and Moscow.
A trend of neutrality has emerged from India, Brazil, the UAE, Azerbaijan and China.
However, others have backed Russia, tempted by trade deals and owed favours.
Pakistan today became the first country to strike a new trade deal with Russia since its attack on Ukraine, with prime minister Imran Khan inking the deal for natural gas and wheat imports – despite a national outcry from diplomats of 22 countries.
“We have signed agreements with them to import natural gas because Pakistan’s own gas reserves are depleting,” Khan said in defence of the deal.
Azerbaijan has also been tempted into appeasement with the lure of alliance, having signed a wide-ranging agreement with Russia just two days before it launched its attack.
While Syria has remained a key ally of Moscow since Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war in 2015.
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in a phone with president Vladimir Putin on Friday bashed so-called Western “hysteria” regarding the Kremlin-backed invasion of Ukraine.
Al-Assad told Putin what was happening in Ukraine was a “correction of history and restoration of balance which was lost in the world after the breakup of the Soviet Union”, the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) news agency quoted the leader as saying.
“Syria stands with the Russian Federation based on its conviction that its position is correct and because confronting NATO expansionism is a right for Russia,” Al-Assad added.
Mexico has also refused to impose any economic sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine.
“We are not going to take any sort of economic reprisal because we want to have good relations with all the governments in the world,” Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday.
Middle of the road
A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) vote on Saturday, proposed by the US demanding Moscow withdraw its troops, saw China – a key ally for Russia – take the middle road, joining the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India in abstaining. The remaining 11 council members voted in favour.
Following the vote, the UAE and Russian foreign ministers announced they would be meeting on Monday in Moscow to discuss “further expanding multifaceted Russia-UAE relations”.
Brazil’s ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho, in a surprise move, voted in favour of the motion.
A stance which Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has tried to avoid, telling reporters on Sunday that the country was “not going to take sides”.
“We are going to continue to be neutral and help however possible to find a solution,” Bolsonaro added.
Israel too, cautious of its ties to Moscow, had been vying for a neutral approach, and has not met Ukraine’s request for “defensive weapons” and helmets.
However, following Russia’s attack on the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial in Kyiv, which killed five people, president Isaac Herzog confirmed today that Israel will send an “unprecedented amount” of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, totalling some 100 tonnes.