Countries that refused to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. Did the Global South save Putin?

The Russian economy was supposed to collapse under the weight of the restrictions imposed by America and the European Union, but the country's national income is today 1 percent higher than it was before the invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has found alternative customers for its raw materials. 90 percent of it sells oil, for example, to India and China. The example of the first country is particularly strict. India's imports of Russian fuel have increased 13-fold in the past two years, reaching $37 billion in 2023. This has contributed significantly to generating huge revenues ($320 billion) for the Russian budget, nearly 40 percent of it. Dedicated to military spending.

How did Russia learn to bypass Western sanctions?

Russia has gradually become better at circumventing sanctions. For example, it has created a “gray” fleet of tankers that evades international control. They gave over 70% last year. Russian fuel exports. Thanks to this, the maximum price for Russian oil, imposed by Brussels and Washington, became $60. per barrel when collected by countries not implementing sanctions, was easily surpassed by Moscow.

The United States and the European Union were able to convince only a small group of countries to join the sanctions against Russia. Apart from Canada and Australia, these include: Japan or South Korea. All of Latin America, Africa and the overwhelming majority of Asia refused to show solidarity with the Ukrainians. This can be seen in air traffic: outside the West, Russians can fly freely everywhere. For this reason, Turkey, Egypt and Thailand have become a holy place for Russian visitors: last year alone, tourist traffic from Russia increased by 50 percent. For Putin, this is a great success. It helps maintain the appearance that despite hundreds of thousands killed in the war with Ukraine, daily life has changed little for the average Russian. Thanks to this, popular support for the regime remains relatively high. Countries such as Turkey and Kazakhstan also contribute to this in their own way and have become intermediaries in the purchase of Western consumer goods that reach store shelves in Moscow and St. Petersburg.