Russia is lucky with its territory and location on the planet. It has many neighboring countries, from the US and Japan in the east to Norway and Poland in the west. Historically, Russia has played a key role in world politics, so many countries prefer to be friends with it. Which countries are friends with Russia? The list will be too long, so it's worth sorting it out by regions, continents and main partners.
Russian-Belarusian relations
Which countries are friends with Russia from those that were part of the USSR until 1991? The Republic of Belarus can be put in the first place. It has the largest trade turnover among all the countries of the former USSR. In 2017, Russia and Belarus traded for $30 billion. Russia exported goods worth $18.5 billion to Belarus. Belarusian goods can be found in almost any Russian city: trucks, buses, trams, trolleybuses, tractors, groceries, clothing, household appliances.
Countries are connected not only by close economic ties. They are members of the CIS, the EAEU, the CSTO and the Union State. The latter has been in existence since 1997. One of the results of its creationis the open border of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. It can be crossed by bus or train without any border control. There are two Russian military facilities on the territory of Belarus - the Volga radar station and the Navy communications center. Russia and Belarus often hold joint military exercises. The construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant can be considered a major joint project.
Russian citizens can visit Belarus without a passport. There is no sea in this country, but you can relax on lakes in summer and at ski resorts near Minsk in winter.
Friendly countries of Central Asia
If Russia has the highest trade turnover among the countries of the former USSR with Belarus, then the longest border is with Kazakhstan. There is a high trade turnover with it of $16 billion, and there are also several thousand enterprises with Russian capital, cultural ties and interregional cooperation are developed. Kazakhstan has not only the Russian embassy, but also three consulates. On the other hand, four Kazakh consulates in Russia and an embassy in Moscow.
Which countries are friends with Russia in Central Asia? It turns out that everything. After all, they can be in the EAEU (Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan), in the CSTO (Tajikistan and both members of the EAEU), in the CIS (all five, but Turkmenistan has a special status). Citizens of these states travel to Russia to work, remittances make up a significant part of their GDP. Russians can still visit Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan without a passport.
Relations with other countries of the former USSR
Among republicsof the former USSR, the most friendly countries to Russia are Armenia and Moldova. The first is part of the CSTO and the EAEU. There is a Russian military base on its territory, and many Armenian citizens travel to Russia to work. Among Armenian goods, you can find cognac and fruit or vegetable snacks in most large stores.
Moldova joined the EAEU in 2018 as an observer. In general, cooperation with Russia is beneficial for her. Moldova supplies its labor force and agricultural products to Russia.
Azerbaijan is less connected with Russia than Armenia because of the conflict in Karabakh. It is only a member of the CIS, but the volume of economic cooperation with it is significant, for example, there is a branch of Moscow State University in Baku.
Relations with Georgia are very bad, there is not even a Russian embassy in Tbilisi, it is represented by Switzerland, but tourists are allowed there for a year according to the usual stamp in the passport. In Russian stores, you can often find Georgian wines and mineral waters for sale.
Relations with Ukraine have deteriorated since 2014, but many of its citizens are in Russia to work or go on vacation, for example, to Crimea. Trade did not stop.
Russia has strained relations with the three B altic republics. They prefer, like Georgia and Ukraine, to be friends with NATO and the EU. However, nothing lasts forever, maybe they will change their mind.
Russia and South Slavs
Which countries are friends with Russia from the South - and West Slavic? NATO member states can hardly be classified as friendly, so Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Macedonia remain. You can visit them withoutvisas, only with a passport and insurance. In Russian stores you can find various goods from these countries: cheeses, apples, sweets. Russian exports are also diverse: energy carriers, vehicles, metals. Citizens of Russia may well spend their holidays in Serbia. You can swim and sunbathe in neighboring Montenegro, and in Serbia itself, cheap and tasty food, short distances, inexpensive transport and many architectural monuments.
Russia and the states of the Middle East
Which countries are friends with Russia in the western part of Asia? Syria comes first. There is a Russian military base operating there, and reports from Syria on television, if not every day, then every week for sure. The Syrian army uses Russian weapons and ammunition. Due to the war, Russian citizens rarely visit Syria, but when peace comes, the situation should improve.
Turkey and Israel can be put in second place. Despite the fact that the first country is a member of NATO, many Russian tourists have a rest there and the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant is underway. During the Cold War, this was hard to imagine.
The situation with Israel is even more interesting, despite the absence of diplomatic relations from 1968 to 1990, now many Russian-speaking citizens live in this country, it is actively visited by Russian tourists.
Russia is one of those countries on the planet that have good relations with Turkey, Syria and Israel at the same time. For example, the United States and Iran cannot boast of such a foreign policylayout.
Relations with China
Back in 1949, a song appeared with the words "Russian and Chinese are brothers forever." After the "cool" period of the 1960s-1980s, relations have improved and now Putin is always a welcome guest in China, and Xi Jinping in Russia. The trade turnover between Russia and China exceeds $100 billion. For Russia, China is one of the key trading partners. If in the XVIII-XIX centuries they bought mainly tea, now they buy any goods, for example, cars and electronics. The Chinese in Russia mainly buy raw materials: oil, ore, metals, timber.
Russia and China have many joint projects - from the construction of nuclear power plants to military-technical cooperation.
Relations with India and other Asian countries
The second most populous country in Asia is India. Russia has developed cooperation with it since the times of the USSR, when, for example, the first Indian cosmonaut was trained. Russia, India and China form the core of BRICS and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization). With India, Russia also has a decent trade turnover, and a lot of tourists and students move between them.
Of the rest of Asia, only Japan, with which there is a dispute over the Kuril Islands, can be called friendly with a stretch. For the rest of the countries, the alignment is as follows:
- DPRK. Good relationship. Our tourists are always welcome there, and in Russia - Korean guest workers. The trade turnover is small, but in the UN, the Russian Federation and the DPRK almost always vote in the same way.
- South Korea. There is no "Soviet legacy" in cooperation with it, but a huge trade turnover and solid tourism indicators.
- ASEAN countries. They are almost all visa-free, except for Myanmar. Russians most often rest in Thailand, and military cooperation is most developed with Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam. Tanks, planes, helicopters are left there.
- Maldives. Where can hostile relations come from with a country where almost the entire economy is built on tourism?
- Taiwan. During the Soviet era, there were no relations with it, and now this island state is visa-free for our citizens.
- Mongolia. A visa-free country where the older generation still remembers the Russian language. Actually, it has only two neighbors - the Russian Federation and China.
Friendly countries in Africa and South America
There can be no obvious enemies in such distant countries, but still, what countries are friends with Russia in Africa and South America?
The most friendly can be considered those who vote in the UN on various resolutions in solidarity with Russia.
For example, in 2014, resolution 68/262 voted against:
- Nicaragua.
- Sudan.
- Cuba.
- Venezuela.
- Bolivia.
- Zimbabwe.
The reasons for such actions may be different. Some people have bad relations with the USA, while Russia wrote off the external debt of the USSR times for some people.
Friendly countries include Brazil and South Africa, they are members of the BRICS.
So thatto understand which countries Russia has friendly relations with, you need to follow the news of foreign policy, international summits and tourist flows.
