Although most of Europe and North America condemns Russia because of its war in Ukraine, as far as politics goes, it is not a worldwide stance. Current analysis by the Economist Intelligence Unit has revealed that there is a slow growth in Russia’s support base in a few parts of the world. The number of countries leaning towards Russia has increased from 29 in 2022 to 35 in 2023. On the contrary, the number of countries either actively condemning Russia or West-leaning is still so far, the bigger group, but its figures have dropped from 131 to 122. The EIU says this fall is partly driven by the shift of a number of emerging economies into a more neutral position.
The Infographic used here uses data from EIU to show attitudes of different countries for Russia ranging from condemnation to support, as of March 2023. While Africa shows a patchwork quilt of positioning, the EIU reports that a number of its countries have moved towards the Russian side in the past year. Where Uganda and South Africa belonged to politically neutral category on the topic in 2022, they are now listed as Russia-leaning. In the meantime, where Burkina Faso and Mali were Russia-leaning before, they are now in total supportive of Russia. In Latin America, Bolivia was highlighted as a notable country for its position shift, having also moved from neutral to pro-Russia by 2023.
At the same time, the number of neutral countries has increased
from 32 to 35. One country to break the trend is Bangladesh, which has moved
the opposite direction, shifting from being neutral to West-leaning between
2022 and 2023.
Infographic by: Statista
