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Thousands across Asia have joined anti-war protests but governments are split in their response to Russia
Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has become the world's most sanctioned country. But only a few governments in Asia have taken tough action against Moscow.
China has refused to outright condemn the invasion of Ukraine and has not imposed any sanctions on Russia.
India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Laos and Mongolia also sat out the vote on a United Nations' resolution to demand the end of Russia's military operations in Ukraine.
While Western allies like Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have imposed sanctions, with Tokyo and Seoul blocking some Russian banks from the Swift global payments system, the impact is limited.
That is because the Asian nations who joined western-led sanctions make up only 8% of Russia's global trade.
"Without having the two Asian giants China and India on board on sanctions who account for 18% of Russia's trade, there is unlikely to be any significant impact on Russia," says Professor Syed Munir Khasru, chairman of the international think tank, the Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance.
And President Putin has been preparing in advance. Since Russia annexed Crimea eight years ago, Moscow has been targeted with Western sanctions.
"After 2014, Russia started cutting down the reliance on US dollars as part of foreign currency reserve and moving to gold and the Chinese yuan," he adds.
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