Allies, Partners, or Frenemies?

This episode outlines the global network sustaining both sides of the war in Ukraine, with NATO allies on one side and Russia with backing from China, Iran, and North Korea on the other, and how the limits and tensions within these alliances are shaping the war’s next phase and raising broader global security risks.

Host:

Gabrielle Sierra, Director of Podcasting, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

Guests:

Liana Fix, Senior Fellow for Europe, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

Joseph Torigian, Senior Fellow for Asia Studies, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

We discuss:

• How the war in Ukraine has become a global conflict fueled by competing networks of allies and partners on both sides.
• Why Ukraine’s survival depends on sustained military, financial, and intelligence support from the United States and NATO.
• How Russia has built its own wartime coalition, relying on Iran for drones, North Korea for munitions, and China for economic backing.
• Why the Russian alliance with China is driven more by shared opposition to Western power than true strategic alignment.
• How cracks are emerging within both coalitions, from political fatigue in the West to quiet limits in China’s support for Russia.
• As Liana Fix puts it: “A more transactional idea of alliances is exactly where we are headed.”
• How sanctions, supply chains, and defense production have turned global economics into a second front in the war.
• How shifting alliances could expand the conflict’s risks beyond Ukraine and reshape global security dynamics.
• What this war reveals about the return of bloc politics in a new era of great power competition.

Read More:

Liana Fix, “Defending Europe if Russia Steps Out of the Gray Zone,” CFR.org

Liana Fix, Heidi E. Crebo-Rediker, Thomas Graham, Paul B. Stares, and Sam Vigersky, “Securing Ukraine’s Future: Adapting to New Realities After Four Years of War,” CFR.org

Joseph Torigian, “Xi Jinping’s Russian Lessons,” Foreign Affairs

Clara Fong and Lindsay Maizland, “China and Russia: Exploring Ties Between Two Authoritarian Powers”

Anya Konstantinovsky, “China, Russia, and Ukraine: December 2024”

Molly Carlough and James Kennedy, “How North Korea Has Bolstered Russia’s War in Ukraine”

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Why It Matters is a production of the Council on Foreign Relations. The opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host and guests, not of the Council, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.