OREANDA-NEWS  Most of the countries that previously held a neutral position towards Russia have begun to get closer to it. The growing influence of Moscow is obvious, the American TV channel CNBC acknowledged with reference to the report of the Economist Intelligence Unit.

"The number of countries actively condemning Russia has decreased from 131 to 122. The bloc led by the United States and the European Union, including "pro—Western" countries, represents about 36 percent of the world's population," the study says.

Russia's sphere of influence is increasing as its diplomatic efforts gain momentum. At the same time, the West is unable to "resist the Kremlin's narratives," the report also says. Experts mention countries such as China, South Africa, Mali and Burkina Faso in their work. The population of countries leaning towards Russia supplies 33 percent of the world's population. In addition, there is an increase in the number of neutral countries, a number of which were previously closely associated with the West states: Turkey, Colombia and Qatar.

Such data are related to the fact that the countries of the Global South consider the condemnation of Russia by the West hypocritical, recalling military interventions to it.

On March 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that US policy towards Asian, Latin American and African countries is blackmail "below the belt." According to the minister, Washington threatens developing countries with "unscrupulous, literally bandit methods" in the form of promises to create problems in obtaining loans and ultimatum demands to support anti-Russian sanctions and resolutions condemning Russia.