Singapore Is The Only SEA Country Deemed As Unfriendly To Russia
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 Feb, many countries across the world have turned their backs on Russia.
On our part, Singapore has imposed sanctions on 4 Russian banks and export controls on certain goods to Russia.
As a result, Russia has named Singapore in its list of “unfriendly countries”.
MS News, Source
That means all deals with us by Russian entities would have to be approved by the Russian government.
49 in “unfriendly” list
The release of the list of “unfriendly countries” was shared on Facebook by the Russian Embassy in Singapore on Monday (7 Mar) night.
49 countries/territories are included in the list, said the post.
According to Russia’s TASS news agency, besides Singapore, the other countries/territories are:
- the United States
- Canada
- all European Union countries (28 in total)
- the United Kingdom
- Ukraine
- Montenegro
- Switzerland
- Albania
- Andorra
- Iceland
- Liechtenstein
- Monaco
- Norway
- San Marino
- North Macedonia
- Japan
- South Korea
- Australia
- Micronesia
- New Zealand
- Taiwan
Singapore is the only country from South-east Asia on this list.
Foreign debts can be paid in rubles
The countries and territories on the list had “imposed or joined the sanctions against Russia” after they began their “special military operation” in Ukraine, TASS reported.
The Russian government had earlier issued a decree that covers all the country’s entities – including its citizens, companies and also the state.
If they have foreign exchange debts to the countries/territories on the list, they can pay in rubles, Russia’s national currency.
It’s a “temporary procedure” that applies to payments of more than S$99,500 (10 million rubles per month.
Approval for business dealings
Additionally, approval must be sought for all corporate dealings with companies and individuals from the “unfriendly countries”, reported Reuters by way of The Straits Times (ST).
These business dealings must be approved by a Russian government commission.
Singapore’s appearance on the list of “unfriendly countries” comes after the Russian Embassy here said it regretted our decision to impose sanctions on Russia, adding,
It runs against the friendly relations between Russia and Singapore.
Friendly relations no more?
After the release of the list, it appears that Singapore and Russia’s friendly relations are at an end, at least from Russia’s point of view.
It remains to be seen how this will affect our geopolitical position.
However, it seems this is the price we have to pay for standing together with Ukraine against their invasion.
Hopefully, the crisis will end soon, and we can return to friendly relations once more.
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Featured image adapted from MS News and Artem Beliaikin at Unsplash.
