As Russian President Vladimir Putin focuses his attentions on Moscow’s war in Ukraine, his strategic allies around the world have been left feeling neglected – or worse.
In Venezuela, officials now think their years-long security relationship with Moscow was a paper tiger.
They’re not alone: From Damascus and Tehran to Havana, over the last 13 months authoritarian regimes which previously benefited from their close ties to the Kremlin have found Russian support lacking when it mattered most.
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow after Russian military backing withered away.
Putin and former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad watch troops at an airbase in Syria in December 2017. Photo: AP
Cuba, lacking a benefactor, is confronting a humanitarian crisis some think could see it become the next domino to fall. Iran was bombed by the US last year and now Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei faces domestic protests on an existential scale, along with the threat of more US military action.