Russia's Closest Ally

Which of these countries do you think is the closest Ally of Russia and will be eager to help Moscow in case of an eventuality ?

Byelorussia and Kazakhstan. Maybe China. Theyre the only ones that are in an actual something of a military alliance. Everybody else are just customers for Russian equipment or neighbors that Russian is trying to impose influence in.

"Russia has only two reliable allies - the army and the navy"

Regular wrote:"Russia has only two reliable allies - the army and the navy"

Don't forget the Aerospace Defence Forces VKO.

Russia's closest allies should be Ukraine and Belarus since both these countries were part of the Soviet Union.

China is more of a competitor so not sure why someone puts China's name in a list of allies .

The UK too is a good candidate to be an ally of Russia .

India & Vietnam , basically third world with very little to contribute meaningfully in any relationship with Russia. Not to mention that if Russia faces any external aggression , these two countries would be the first to bail out.

I voted Serbia but India is one of the closest ally of Russia . The strategic partnership ( also called the friendship treaty ) was signed in the early 70s and it still continues . Below is a portion of the agreement that's found in the embassy websites of both Russia & India .

http://www.indianembassy.ru/index.php/bilateral-relations/statements-speeches-interviews/798-joint-statement-furthering-the-india-russia-strategic-partnership-to-meet-the-challenges-of-a-changing-world

NickM said that UK is Russia's ally! Thanks for good laugh! ))) UK puts more sticks in Russian wheels than Georgia and Baltic sts combined.
And Serbia has to be a independent country to be an ally for start. No offence to Serbians, but their country is a vassal state. I'm pretty much sure that many Serbians are fond of Russians, but their government are just pawns without real choice.
Belarus and Ukraine is something problematic too. Ukraine is a sell out, they jump from one train to another. One day they can be pro West, next day they are pro East, now - who the hell knows??
Belarus is a country You can't ignore. Lukashenko is strong leader. He said strong NO when Russia demanded them to recognise Ossetia and Abkhazia. What ally would turn it's back on Russia? Not to mention Lukashenko comments towards Russia or Putin. I'm not a fan of socialism, but hell Belarus is one of few countries that have spine and are not completely independent.
India maybe is not political ally, but more economical. It's funny, that India proved to be more reliable than any other close country to Russia.
Germany could be Russian ally in EU if You think about it. France is not Russian enemy too.

Definately Belorussia is the closest ally, despite the occasional spat with Lukashenko

Itself.

Every other ally is an ally of convenience.

i voted -other . 
and now i have to explain... 
its Syria !  

Syria is to Russia what Israel is to USA. 

Geo-strategic friend.  

Syria is a Russian satellite...

It has been its military-economic ally for over 50 yrs now, even during twilight years of USSR/RUS ,in good times and yes -especially in bad times  ,...you dont abandon such an ally easily.
Its only place in mediteran where Russia has an outpost/ military base. Nowhere else in the world if we dont count former USSR countries does russia have military bases.
That speaks allot .

Syria is like a province of Russia ,with so many russians living there ,and one of few muslim countries that lets christians enjoy their faith.

It is its best of friends in a cruel world.

Syria is nothing for Russia like Israel is for the US.

Seriously, that is an absurd comparison. It is a customer, and for the past 20+ years, not even a very good one. THat's it.

Tartus is a tiny dock of a base. Calling it a base is a stretch in iteslf. A small outpost at best.

And the number of RUssians in Syria is wildly overestimated. I have not seen any definitive proof for actual Russians...they could be talking about Syrians with Russian citizenship, but even that seems inflated.

USSR built allot of dams in Syria and oil exploitation facilities and pipelines and many infrastructure projects.
And Syria never backstabbed USSR like Egypt did and never betrayed Russia.
It has been a very rare ,loyal and true ally and friend of Russia unlike so many other countries.

Tartus is a big harbour and Russian base uses a tiny bit of its facilities. the rest is Syrian.
The base can be enlarged there were plans but it lacked money ,and then brakeup of Ussr meant Russian had retreated its  fleet to Black sea ,Mediteranian fleet was disbanded, and its only base in the world that Russia has outside former Ussr which speaks allot.
Syria bought buk-m2 ,pantcir ,wanted mig-31 and s-300 but Russia didnt deliver. Many tanks and apcs ...Thats strategic military cooperation, only between best of friends.

You are mixing loyalty, friendship and interests.
Nations will be loyal and helpfull as long as they have an interest in it. Syria got a lot for free from USSR back in the day. USSR was promoting socialism, expanding influence, etc etc we all know why. In the end they didn't get muh back from Syria aside from a money drain. Syria's dictators will be "loyal" to a supporter as all dicators crave international recognition of some sort, plus regime support.

Since fall of USSR, Syria has been Russia's interest in simile economic terms, and little else.
However, they have not been able to buy much due to financial difficulties. Lots of interest, little money to show for it. Russia ain't giving out gifts anymore.

If Russia felt the insurgents were for some reason to be more beneficial to Russia post civil war, they would abandon Assad right there and then.

Belarus without exception. Who comes after Belarus is something about what we may argue.

Viktor wrote:Who comes after Belarus is something about what we may argue.

Who do you think comes after Belarus ?

AFAIK Russia has official strategic partnerships with Kazakhstan and India .

Even when i have voted for Serbia i have to say that i voted to quickly and had to remember what Lukashenko said.

"If russia falls, all of us are screwed"
They are truelly the only loyal allies of Russia for several reasons.
As he said "As stronger Russia is than less pressure is on our shoulders"...this counts for every sector economical and of course to stay more indepentend as majority of other countries could sustain in last decades after fall of USSR.

TR1 wrote:
If Russia felt the insurgents were for some reason to be more beneficial to Russia post civil war, they would abandon Assad right there and then.

The shear amount of support for Syria from UN veto ,to arms supplies ,to political support ,and material support with new weapons-yakhont ,pantcir... to intelligence help.

I cant remember Russia do soooo much for any other country since it became independent in the 90s.
Its almost unbelievable how far their support for Syria goes today.

I thought i would never see something like that.

They do want to make Syria more democratic and pressed on Assad to create new constitution, which he did.
There is even talk of volountiers from ukraine and russia going to fight in syria...
Truth is Assad would be long gone years ago without Russia  
Syria is a big Russian customer and a client state.
And lets not forget Syria is rich with some minerals and agricultural products that Russia imports so they can trade (remember vietnam payed part of Sukhois in chickens)

Werewolf wrote:Even when i have voted for Serbia i have to say that i voted to quickly and had to remember what Lukashenko said.

"If russia falls, all of us are screwed"
They are truelly the only loyal allies of Russia for several reasons.
As he said "As stronger Russia is than less pressure is on our shoulders"...this counts for every sector economical and of course to stay more indepentend as majority of other countries could sustain in last decades after fall of USSR.

If he re-united Belarus with Russian federation which are the same people,as he promised many years ago, i would have voted for him... Since he didnt ,and even stopped the process ,because of his selfish ambitions to rule his small kingdom for life, its a minus.

I think it would be more or less a tie, between Kazakhstan and Belarus. Both are extremely important to Russian interests and have very close ties. They are joined by a number of important agreements, including the CSTO and their Customs Union. I'd argue Serbia is Russia's strongest or one of strongest friends. Currently it really isn't an ally like Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, etc, still an important partner though. Serbia did become an observer of the CSTO, so maybe the'll join in the future and the direct ties between it and Russia will become stronger. India is also what could be considered a strong friend and extremely important partner, but not really an ally like others.

Deep Throat wrote:AFAIK Russia has official strategic partnerships with Kazakhstan and India .

Accept it , reject it but truth is Hindoos cannot fight so India is a cop out .

That country has historically been invaded by Turks , Arabs , Tartars , Central Asians , Mongols and a host of other invaders . The result has always been the same . Hindoos lost

It's high time that Russia re visits those stupid strategic agreements that it has signed with 3rd world states like India and Kazakhstan .

They won all wars with Pakistan. They aren't such losers actually.

Belorussians are same people as Russians? Care to elaborate?

Rpg type 7v wrote:

TR1 wrote:
If Russia felt the insurgents were for some reason to be more beneficial to Russia post civil war, they would abandon Assad right there and then.

The shear amount of support for Syria from UN veto ,to arms supplies ,to political support ,and material support with new weapons-yakhont ,pantcir... to intelligence help.

I cant remember Russia do soooo much for any other country since it became independent in the 90s.
Its almost unbelievable how far their support for Syria goes today.

I thought i would never see something like that.

They do want to make Syria more democratic and pressed on Assad to create new constitution, which he did.
There is even talk of volountiers from ukraine and russia going to fight in syria...
Truth is Assad would be long gone years ago without Russia  
Syria is a big Russian customer and a client state.
And lets not forget Syria is rich with some minerals and agricultural products that Russia imports so they can trade (remember vietnam payed part of Sukhois in chickens)

And yet, they have sent no actual usefull help in the form of armored vehicles, light arms, etc to Assad since the Civil War started.
No offense but you are pulling things out of your ass.
Russia does not give a crap about democracy in Syria. It cares about its interests. They have a working relationship, commercial deal with the current regime. No sense in opposing it. And by the way, are you aware of how much exactly Syria has bought from Russia since USSR? They had to erase billions of debts just to get the broke Syrians cough up for anything in the military field.
The volunteer talk was some Ukrainian guy and a dozen of similar tards. That's it.
Russia and others were against UN resolutions because they saw what happened in Libya, and are in principle against regime change. Not because they love Syria.

More enlightened analysis from our most enlightened member I see

NickM wrote:  China is more of a competitor so not sure why someone puts China's name in a list of allies .

Since 2005, Russia and China have been conducting joint military exercises (on land) on a regular basis. And since 2011, the 2 countries have been conducting joint naval exercises.

Maritime Cooperation 2013 will take place 5-7 July in Peter the Great Bay near Vladivostok.

Participating Chinese ships will be:

115 SHENYANG
116 SHIJIAZHUANG
169 WUHAN
170 LANZHOU
538 YANTAI
546 YANCHENG
881 HONGZEHU

i.e. basically 1 Destroyer Flotilla with reinforcements from SSF’s 9 Destroyer Flotilla.

Russian ships will be reportedly be:

SLAVA class 011 VARYAG
UDALOY class 543 MARSHAL SHAPOSHNIKOV
UDALOY class 572 ADMIRAL VINOGRADOV
SOVREMENNYY class 715 BYSTRYY
GRISHA V class 350 MPK-200
GRISHA V class 354 SOVETSKAYA GAVAN
TARANTUL III class 924 R-14
TARANTUL III class 940 R-14
KILO class submarine(s)

Credit: franco-russe @ CDF

Regarding Syria...

IMO, Russia is helping Syria more than it's admitting publicly. One obvious example is the Sy-AF, which would be grounded by now if they weren't getting spare parts from Russia. And I doubt all those landing craft regularly going to Tartus (Tartus Express) are delivering blankets and canned milk. Also they're been printing the Syrian currency in Russia (after the EU stopped doing it for them) without which the government wouldn't be able to function.

Publicly Russia has to keep a certain distance from the government and at least try to maintain an image of neutrality if it's going to be playing the role of a mediator.