Who are Russia's allies in the war in Ukraine?

 News that thousands of North Korean troops are being trained in Russia and could soon be deployed in Ukraine are the latest sign of closer military co-operation between the two authoritarian countries.

Ostracised from the international community following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has sought to secure closer ties with a number of allies – old and new – from the Middle East to Africa to Eastern Europe. This in turn has sparked alarm from the US and its allies that "growing coordination between anti-West countries is creating a much broader, urgent security threat – one where partnerships of convenience are evolving into more outright military ties", reported CNN.

North Korea 

 Fears over the "budding alliance" between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un have peaked in recent weeks, said the BBC. Reports of North Korea deploying thousands of troops to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the latest escalation in what has been a "largely transactional" relationship, Edward Howell, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera.

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Having signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty last summer that commits both countries to provide military assistance to each other if either is attacked, Russian forces have become increasingly reliant on millions of rounds of North Korean artillery shells and ballistic missiles.

Fighting in Ukraine would enable North Korea to test the abilities of both its soldiers and weapons, Gabriel Jonsson, associate professor of Korean studies at Stockholm University, told The Guardian, while also gaining "income and assistance to its missile and nuclear programmes from Russia".

"The reality is that the longer the war in Ukraine goes on, the more forces Putin will need from North Korea, only making the Kim family stronger by the day and filling the regime's bank accounts," said Harry Kazianis, senior director of national security affairs at the Center for the National Interest in Washington.

China  

 The "two continent-sized authoritarian states" are "increasingly in dispute with democracies and Nato" as they "seek to gain influence in Africa, the Middle East and South America", said The Associated Press.

China has backed Putin's claim that Russia launched its assault against Ukraine in 2022 because of Western provocations, even as Beijing has tried to maintain at least the perception of neutrality.

Now even that is starting to wear thin. Recently, CNN said China has been accused of "powering Russia's war machine" with substantial amounts of "dual-use" goods like microelectronics and machine tools, which can be used to make weapons.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasised strategic cooperation with Russia as part of a "no-limits" partnership that last year delivered a record $240 billion (£185 billion) in bilateral trade.

Boasting two of the world's "largest, best equipped, and best funded armed forces", China and Russia are undertaking joint military projects at an "unprecedented rate and in unprecedented places", said the Wilson Center think tank. "It seems that what's happening is something some analysts said couldn't happen: the two powers" are now "'going steady'."

Iran 

There are "many reasons why Russia and Iran are not formal allies", wrote Nikita Smagin for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank. "Their rulers don't trust one another; they compete with each other on energy markets; and Iran's revolutionary Shia ideology sits uneasily with Russia's conservatism." But "when it comes to military matters, they are drawing ever closer, united in their opposition to the United States".

The December 2023 free-trade agreement between Tehran and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union signalled a new phase in cooperation between the two countries.

Since the start of the year Iran has been providing Russia with hundreds of drones that have been used against Ukraine. In September the Wall Street Journal reported the transfer of short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, "a move that gives Moscow another potent military tool in its war against Ukraine and follows stern Western warnings not to provide those arms to Moscow".

The war in Gaza and escalation in the Middle East has also had a "significant impact on Iran's thinking," said Emil Avdaliani, a professor of international relations at European University in Georgia, on Stimson. With tensions rising between the US and Iran-backed proxies across the region, Russia and Iran are "nearly on the same page when it comes to navigating different regional conflicts, from Ukraine to Syria and Afghanistan", said TRT World.

South Africa

"For years, the relationship between South Africa and Russia has baffled pundits and governments in the West," said Al Jazeera. The two countries share "no cultural or linguistic ties", or "major trading" arrangements, yet South Africa – "like many other" countries on the African continent – has not condemned Moscow's war against Ukraine.

The roots of the relationship date back to the struggle against apartheid, when Moscow helped finance and train the African National Congress (ANC) in exile when most of the world was happy to do business with white supremacists.

While the "historical ties" between the ANC and Moscow "predates Russia's war in Ukraine" said DW, the "show of support from South Africa, the most developed economy and an influential voice on the African continent, has provided crucial backing for Russia as its invasion of Ukraine has made it a pariah elsewhere", said The New York Times.

South Africa's ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has called Russia a "valued ally", and said there was "no question" whether he would travel to Kazan for the recent Brics summit, said DW. Yet Ramaphosa's warm relationship with Putin has earned him "sharp criticism" from his coalition partners, the Democratic Alliance, which "does not recognise an authoritarian regime, especially one that is involved in a controversial military conflict, as a legitimate ally".

 Belarus 

 Belarus is Russia's "closest and most devoted ally", said DW. Formerly part of the Soviet Union, it has long relied on Moscow for oil and gas imports and subsidies to keep its economy afloat in the face of Western sanctions.

Ruled by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, some have gone so far as to call Belarus a "puppet state" controlled from Moscow.

Russia used Belarus territory as a "springboard" to send its troops into Ukraine in February 2022, said the AP news agency, and "has maintained its military bases and weapons there, although Belarusian troops have not taken part in the war". Most worryingly for the West, Lukashenko has allowed Moscow to station nuclear arms within its borders, as well as fitting its bombers with nuclear weapons.

But despite his obvious affinity with Putin, Lukashenko has also been playing a "skilful balancing act", said geopolitical forecasting website GIS. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he has provided "ample demonstration of his ability to manoeuvre between Russia and the West, antagonising both sides but not so much as to provoke serious countermeasures". However, this approach will become "increasingly strained" as the war in Ukraine drags on.