South Ossetia tops list of Russia’s ‘friendliest’ neighbours

A list released by a Russian-state run research institute has listed South Ossetia as the ‘friendliest’ neighbour in terms of communication.

The list is released annually by the National Research Institute for the Development of Communication, and covers the entire post-Soviet world.

According to the 2024 ranking, South Ossetia topped the list, receiving 94.5 points, followed by Belarus at 88.6 points, and Abkhazia with 75.9.

The news was highlighted by South Ossetia’s press service, which noted it had come in ‘first place’.

All countries in the Caucasus were listed as being ‘friendly’, with Azerbaijan in 8th place at 54.7 points, Armenia in 9th place at 51.5 points, and Georgia listed as ‘relatively friendly’ in 11th place with 15 points.

The most ‘unfriendly’ country was Ukraine, followed by the Baltic states and Moldova.

The rankings are determined by a number of factors, mostly pertaining to communication in a variety of fields, as well as ‘attitude toward Russia’, and the ‘Russian-speaking population’ of the respective countries.

The list did not change dramatically from the previous year, in which South Ossetia also ranked first, although the respective rankings of Armenia and Azerbaijan shifted — in 2023, Azerbaijan was ranked seventh with 57 points, and Armenia in 10th place with 58.3 points.

However, the authors of the report noted that this year’s ranking did not take into account events that have unfolded in recent months, including the crisis in relations between Azerbaijan and Russia surrounding the Azerbaijan Airlines crash and the geopolitical shift in US-Russia ties.

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For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.