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Vladimir Putin no longer wants to have anything to do with the West. Nevertheless, the Russian president has numerous allies at his side.
Moscow – Around Wladimir Putin and his Russia has become lonely. Western politicians repeatedly emphasize this in the wake of the Kremlin boss's orders Ukraine war. But behind these statements there is obviously more wish than truth. The ruler in Moscow also has numerous allies beyond the country's borders. As is revealed again and again.
Putin and his allies: Closer cooperation with China, Iran & Co. against the West?
The BRICS association, which Putin currently chairs, was recently expanded by four to nine countries. Russia has been expanding its influence on the African continent for years, not least thanks to the Wagner mercenaries.
Now reported the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) of an increasing number of meetings between Russian officials and their partners from China, Iran, North Korea and Belarus. At least ten high-level bilateral meetings took place between these states between April 22nd and 26th alone. The focus was therefore on intensifying cooperation in order to face the West together.
“While the details and outcomes of these meetings are not known, their increasing number is notable and underscores the group's increasing willingness to publicly flaunt its military and political cooperation in competition with the West,” the US think tank writes.
Video: Zelenskyj wants to expand his own arms production
Putin and the Ukraine War: Death and destruction hardly seem to harm the Kremlin boss
So is a new anti-West axis forming these days? At least Putin seems to be succeeding in gathering important partners around him. It actually seems as if it is doing him little harm that he is constantly bombarding Ukraine with air strikes and sending tens of thousands of people to their deaths.
The ISW mentions a meeting on April 22 in Minsk between Major General Valery Revenko, head of the Department of International Military Cooperation in the Belarusian Defense Ministry, with Mehdi Jafari, Iranian Deputy Defense Minister and Rector of the Malek Ashtar University of Technology. How the Belarusian news agency BeiITA citing the Ministry of Defense reported that the talks were about exchanges in the field of military science and education.
A day later, a North Korean delegation led by Yun Jong, Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, visited Iran.
Russia and proximity to China: Moscow and Beijing are discussing closer ties
Closer cooperation between the secret services was also discussed on April 23 in St. Petersburg, where Russia's Security State Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Chen Wenqing, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, exchanged views on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Loud the Russian newspaper Izvestia Both sides agreed to strengthen coordination at the international level.
Just a day after that meeting, Patrushev met with Ali Akbar Ahmadian, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. The Russian News Agency Tass quoted the press service of the Russian Security Council as saying that a memorandum of understanding had been signed. In addition, questions of cooperation in the area of security were discussed.
Moscow received a lot of criticism after the attack on Crocus City Hall in March, which left at least 144 dead. The warnings from US secret services are said to have not been taken seriously, and the attackers initially managed to escape from the scene of the bloody crime unmolested before security forces stopped a car many kilometers away and arrested the suspected perpetrators.
Shoigu travels to Astana: International security and defense cooperation
Discussed on April 26th loud Tass Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian President's Special Representative for the Middle East and African Countries and Deputy Foreign Minister, and Ali Bagheri Qani, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, the renewed escalation in the Middle East. Another topic was the achievement of a “comprehensive and sustainable peace in Syria as well as other relevant regional issues”.
Sergei Shoigu was also busy shaking hands that were important for Moscow that Friday. Like the Ministry of Defense via Telegram informed, the 68-year-old, who came under heavy criticism at least outside the Kremlin because of the failures in the Ukraine war, traveled to a meeting of the defense ministers of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Kazakh capital Astana. This concerns “issues of international and regional security and further cooperation between the defense departments”.
At this meeting, Shoigu also met with China's Defense Minister Dong Jun, where he emphasized the “unprecedented” level of relations between the two countries. He emphasized to Iranian Defense Minister Mohammed Reza Ashtiani that Russia was ready to expand military and military-technical cooperation. It is known, among other things, that Tehran is supplying drones for Putin's war in Ukraine.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization: The meeting is also about the military
Iran took part in an SCO meeting for the first time after becoming the ninth member last year. India and Pakistan had previously been introduced into the group in 2017; the founding members were China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan – all of which were previously allies in the predecessor organization Shanghai Five – and Uzbekistan.
Dong and Ashtiani also assured themselves that they would work even closer together when it came to defense and the military. As the Belarusian Defense Ministry documented on Telegram, Lieutenant General Viktar Khrenin also exchanged ideas with his counterparts from China and Iran.
According to his ministry, Shoigu also discussed closer military cooperation with his Kazakh colleague Baktybek Bekbolotov. Agreements were therefore made on information exchange and “interaction in the field of chemical and biological protection”.
Russia and its allies are moving closer together. Similar to what Western countries propagate for themselves. How harmonious the talks in both camps actually are remains a secret. Whether they bear fruit remains to be seen in the future. (mg)
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