The Economist published an article entitled "Russia’s friends are a motley—and shrinking—crew", in which it presented the rating of Moscow's strategic allies. The list includes 12 countries. Belarus is first, and Armenia is second.

In general, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Syria, China, Venezuela, Nicaragua, India, and Uzbekistan are included in the ranking, which the authors of the article also called "Putin's Pal's Index".

It is noted that the rating was made on the basis of 11 factors. For example, the authors considered diplomatic, military, energy, and economic factors when ranking countries; whether the country vote against the main anti-Russian resolutions of the UN, did it abstain, or did it support Russia? Does the country have an official cooperation agreement with Russia? Are there Russian troops or mercenaries in the country? Does the country supply weapons? Is the country dependent on Russian gas, nuclear power plants, or nuclear technology, is Russia's share excessive? Who owns 10% of the total trade, has the export to Russia increased since the beginning of the war with Ukraine?

Half of the countries on the list with the highest index scores (Armenia scored 9) are mostly associated with Russia in politics, history, and geography; we are talking about Belarus, Armenia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan.

"Russia has five official allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. They are all obliged to help each other if one of them is attacked. However, none of these countries supported Russia with their troops in the war against Ukraine. Belarus provides only its territory as a military base," The Economist's article reads.

The source notes that some of these countries are even trying to stay away from the war.

"Armenia is upset that the 3,500 Russian soldiers on its territory did not come to help during the war with Azerbaijan in 2020. He refused this year's CSTO exercises and now seems to be trying to insure himself when it comes to political patrons by inviting the EU mission to monitor the border with Azerbaijan. From a diplomatic point of view, Russia seems almost isolated. Only four countries (Belarus, Nicaragua, North Korea, and Syria) have always been on his side when voting on seven UN resolutions since 2014 when the Russian Federation annexed Crimea,

About 30 other countries are nominally neutral and usually abstain from UN votes on Ukraine. Some of these countries form the so-called "USSR memory community. They do not offer Moscow any serious diplomatic or military support, but often side with Russia, holding joint military exercises or "repeating Russian narratives about NATO expansion and Ukraine's culpability in the war," The Economist wrote.