Updated by AI

Russia maintains strong political, economic, and military ties with several countries, which can be described as key allies, partners, or client states.

The primary “client” countries in a military and/or economic sense (relying heavily on Russian support or supplying Russia’s war effort) include:

Key Military and Economic Partners

• Belarus: Russia’s closest and most loyal ally, forming a “Union State” with integrated military systems and high economic dependence on Russian energy subsidies and loans. Belarus has hosted Russian troops and military infrastructure since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
• Iran: A key military supplier to Russia, providing a large number of drones and ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine. The two countries signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” military pact in early 2025, vowing to assist each other against “security threats”.
• North Korea: A newfound, close wartime ally, providing significant quantities of ammunition and ballistic missiles to Russia. In June 2024, they signed a mutual defense treaty, committing to provide military support in case of an attack.
• China: Russia’s most important and largest trade partner, providing an economic lifeline amidst Western sanctions. China supplies dual-use materials such as machine tools, satellite imagery, and semiconductors, which are vital for Russia’s military production.
• Syria: Historically reliant on Russian military support to keep the Assad regime in power. While the Assad regime has fallen, Russia still maintains influence and military ties, and some Russian grain is shipped there.
• Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso: These West African nations have sought Russian support (including military equipment and personnel) after falling out with Western allies, in their fight against Islamist insurgencies. 

Other Countries with Strong Relations

• India: Maintains historical defense and energy ties with Russia and has significantly increased its imports of Russian oil since 2022, becoming a crucial economic lifeline.
• Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua: Maintain strong political and economic relations, largely due to shared opposition to Western influence.
• Central African Republic, Eritrea, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe: Maintain positive relations and often align with Russia in international forums.
• Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan: Members of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance.
• Hungary and Slovakia: Within the EU, these countries have maintained positive relations and blocked or delayed some EU sanctions and aid packages to Ukraine.
• Turkey: Maintains a complex “balancing act”, being a NATO member but refusing to join sanctions, and expanding trade and energy cooperation with Russia. 

…………….

From Chris York, News Operations Editor at The Kyiv Independent:

Nov 2, 2025

5 reasons Russia is a sh**hole, not a superpower

Number 1 — If you’re a superpower it helps if you at least even notionally have a set of values that seek to better humanity in some way. Russia has none. In fact, the entire country is a death cult that places absolutely no value on human life.

Number 2 — It’s a country built on dirt. Once you take away gas, oil, and metals, there is nothing else underpinning the economy except weapons.

Number 3 — It’s also a country built on lies.

Number 4 — The only thing Russia contributes to the world is death and disinformation.

Number 5 — Just simple logic says Russia isn’t a superpower.

russia #ukraine #ukrainewar #vladimirputin #war

Video of Chris here :

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AVD8833r3/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Comment from :

Robert Parsons

I believe this is the most accurate evaluation of Russia I have ever heard.

The kremlin’s army of African trolls has been orders to swamp the comments section. Despite lots of warnings, the KI and the KP do not act to block these trash. Here is one :

Robert Waim

“Russia is a powerful country standing up to Western bullying and aggression.When the West say something bad about you,you must know that you are doing well and hitting them where it hurts.That dude is saying all the bad things West are good at.West made up of 50 plus countries have finally met their match in one country:Russia.Russia is right now the military super power.”

There were many, many responses to this troll. Here is just one :

Desiree Helene O’Boyle-Osario

Robert Waim : it’s always the Africans standing up for Russia I wonder why……….?

……………….

An earlier, very pertinent post from Chris dated Oct 20 :

So Ukraine needs to give up Donetsk Oblast or be destroyed by Russia?

Rubbish.

Let’s get one thing straight — it wasn’t Trump’s threats of Tomahawks that brought Putin to the so-called negotiating table.

It was Ukraine’s drone campaign that has been hammering Russian oil refineries since August.

The Kremlin wasn’t panicking about Tomahawks because they posed a distinctly new threat, they were panicking because they would speed up something Ukraine is already doing, and which they are largely powerless to stop.

Russia is already in a really rubbish situation — Ukrainian drones have knocked out a fifth of Russian oil refining capacity and this is really messing up the Russian economy.

Russia is not winning this war. It’s not even close. And it’s certainly not in a position to be demanding more Ukrainian territory.

And yet for some unfathomable reason, Trump and his clueless lackey Steve Witkoff seem to think that it’s perfectly reasonable for Ukraine to cede all of Donetsk Oblast to Russia as part of a peace deal.

Here’s some very crucial context that they need to know about that — Russia has been trying to take Donetsk Oblast since 2014 — 11 years.

And for 11 years Ukraine has resisted them.

Does that really sound like an army that’s in a position of strength and capable of destroying Ukraine?

And does that really sound like a country that’s in any position to demand being handed something which it has been utterly incapable of taking itself?

Nope.

ukraine #ukrainewar #russia #war #donaldtrump