Paul Goble
Staunton, June 22 – Having been deserted by many of its traditional “friends,” the Kremlin is seeking to buy new “allies,” targeting in this effort smaller countries where even relatively small amounts of money may be enough to turn things around for Russia, the Malyuta Skuratov Telegram channel says (https://t.me/mskuratov/3842).
Among the countries getting or being at least promised larger than usual assistance from Moscow since the start of Putin’s war in Ukraine, official Russian sources or government media document, are Venezuela, Vietnam, Malaysia, Turkey, Sierra Leone, the Telegram channel specifies.
Except for Turkey, these countries are relatively small and so limited amounts of money can constitute an effective bribe, something Moscow has learned during Putin’s time when it has sought to get allies in the International Olympic movement and other organizations when it has found itself isolated.
Such bribes do not always work, but such “assistance” goes a long way to explain why some governments back what Putin is doing. And that should be taken into account whenever their support is mentioned, especially because Kremlin media invariably point to such support as reflecting a change in international opinion in the direction of support for the Kremlin leader.
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