Singapore Got Balls Sanctioning Russia and Exporting Missiles to Stop Tanks in Ukraine!

Singapore Got Balls Sanctioning Russia and Exporting Missiles to Stop Tanks in Ukraine!
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright April 2022

Singapore got balls. More than any other nations in ASEAN except perhaps, its immediate neighbour, Indonesia. First, it co-sponsored a UN Security Council resolution against Russia. Then it sanctioned Russia and thirdly sent missile launchers, The Matador to check the advance of Russian tanks in Ukraine.

For a small nation, these were indeed critical, brave and highly laudable moves but would likely have grave consequences on its relations with a major power like Russia in the future. But we are sure the Singapore cabinet and parliament had considered all
possible consequences of their actions.

Meanwhile, the island state and Indonesia were the only Southeast Asian nations to condemn the Russian military assault against Ukraine, so far.

On the other hand, other ASEAN member countries like Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam have only expressed concern and called for peace dialogues to resolve the crisis amicably but did not condemn Moscow outright for its military actions in the Ukraine. These countries for a long time desiring to keep the region as “a zone of peace and neutrality” have followed a foreign policy that involves balancing relations between major powers quite successfully until Singapore started leaning more towards the West, mostly the US.

However, Indonesia did not go beyond the condemnation of Russia. It did not take steps to sanction the country in any way like Singapore did.

In fact, Indonesia had reportedly refused to stop Putin from attending a G20 Heads of Nations conference in Bali next November even when pressured by Western powers.

But Singapore on the other hand went beyond words. It imposed sanctions and restrictions which included financial measures and export controls on those items that could be weaponized against Ukraine.

In addition, Singapore also blocked some Russian banks and selected financial transactions connected to Russia.

As a result, Russia had recently included Singapore on its list of unfriendly countries and retaliatory measures we believe, might soon follow.

Also, we are certain Russia had not overlooked an export of Singapore made missiles, The Matador to Ukraine. The Matador was jointly developed with Israel and produced in Germany and purchased by the Ukrainian government.

The hand held missile launchers were reportedly very lethal against tanks and are believed to be handy in urban combat.

These missiles would eventually come face to face with advancing column of Russian tanks as they ramble into Ukrain to capture major cities in the country.

From various field tests, it was reported that The Matador could effectively put any military tank out of action with a single missile. Therefore, expect Russian tanks to be blown to bits in weeks to come.

So, would Singapore-Russia relations, going forward.

Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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