The World Is Distancing Itself from Its Toxic Partner, “russia”

Over the past ten days, russia has faced diplomatic protests from three countries. These nations are located in different parts of the world where russia is attempting to expand, maintain, or restore its influence and presence. These countries are India, Azerbaijan, and Botswana. For various reasons, the governments of those nations have expressed dissatisfaction with the rf’s actions, indicating a further loss of its global standing.

India expressed concern over russia’s cruise missile strike on the dry cargo ship MV Golden Leo as it was leaving the port of Odesa. Four Indian citizens were killed in the attack. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a strong protest with the russian side and emphasized that strikes on commercial vessels and the loss of civilian lives are unacceptable. Such rhetoric illustrates a kind of tectonic shift in relations between countries that until recently were considered close partners. At the same time, these events significantly narrow russia’s diplomatic options in its declared “pivot to the East”, destroying long-standing ties and turning moscow into a pariah state.

Azerbaijan has effectively put an end to russia’s regional dominance in the South Caucasus. Baku delivered a note of protest to moscow over the rf’s attack on a gas station owned by the Azerbaijani company SOCAR in Mykolaiv region. Azerbaijan categorically demanded a comprehensive investigation and called for “compliance with international obligations to protect civilian facilities”. Later, the President of Azerbaijan officially declared the country’s readiness to completely replace russia in Europe’s oil and gas market. This once again underscored the rf’s loss of status as a reliable energy partner and a full-fledged member of leading European institutions, a role it once considered itself to hold.

russia also took a hit from its African partners. Botswana issued an official statement regarding the “alarming increase in cases of fraudulent recruitment of the country’s citizens to participate in hostilities on russia’s side in the war against Ukraine”. This statement not only served as yet another accusation by the international community against russia for violating the world order and the UN Charter, but also highlighted the severity of the personnel crisis in the ministry of defense of the rf.

Consequently, russia’s aggressive behavior is increasingly deterring international partners from cooperating with moscow. The world recognizes the “toxicity” of any potential future relations with the kremlin and is gradually attempting to distance itself from russia.