Malaysia and Asean tap Russia for energy security, defying Western ‘prejudices’

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim visited Russia’s Kazan with a message about Asean centrality and a more urgent national problem behind it – keeping fuel supply secure as global energy uncertainties linger.The two-day Russia-commemorative-summit" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="143594" data-entity-type="event">Asean-Russia Commemorative Summit has turned into a small but telling test of Washington’s influence in Southeast Asia, according to analysts, with Anwar and other regional leaders meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin even as Western governments seek to tighten pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.The gathering in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s Tatarstan republic, from Wednesday to Thursday marked 35 years of ties between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Russia. It also showed that Russia still has diplomatic reach beyond China, India and the usual anti-Western forums.