Anwar is on a two-day visit to Russia, where he will meet president Putin on Wednesday evening and brief the media on Thursday, according to his office.
The meeting allows talks on a broad range of topics, from agriculture and food security to trade and investment, Malaysia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“This visit will no doubt bring the best benefits to Malaysia, especially in strengthening cooperation as well as two-way ties between Malaysia and Russia,” Anwar wrote on X at the start of his two-day visit to the federation.
Anwar follows in the footsteps of India’s Narendra Modi, Chinese president Xi Jinping, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Indonesian president Joko Widodo and Myanmar army general Min Aung Hlaing in meeting with Putin since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.
That shows many Asian leaders have been unmoved by the West’s condemnation of Putin and his charges for alleged war crimes.
Earlier this week, Putin agreed to boost economic ties in a visit to Mongolia, which was criticised by Ukraine for not executing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for the Russian leader.
In July, Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto, visiting in his capacity as defence minister, described Russia “as a real friend” when he met Putin in Moscow.
Washington has been critical of nations like Vietnam that have played host to Putin since Russia attacked Ukraine, with the US embassy in Hanoi saying earlier this year “no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalise his atrocities”.
A spokesman with the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur did not respond to a request for comment on Anwar’s visit to Moscow.
Anwar will also reiterate Malaysia’s interest in joining the BRICS grouping to Putin, who is chairman of the bloc for 2024, according to the foreign ministry. He is set to speak at the Eastern Economic Forum in Russia’s Far East region on Thursday.
Russia’s rivals have reason to be wary of its warming ties with Malaysia, which has emerged as a hub in the global chip supply chain, and tech giants have invested billions of dollars in the country’s infrastructure.
Anwar has pledged at least RM25 billion in support of Malaysia’s semiconductor industry, and aims to attract at least another RM500 billion in investment.
But there are risks. Malaysian firm Jatronics Sdn Bhd was added to the US’s unilateral sanctions list after allegedly supplying components to Russian military-linked firms, and Poland has cautioned Asian countries to be mindful of the risk of sanctions and the sale of dual-use goods, which can be used for civilian and military applications.
“Russia doesn’t make its own semiconductors. There are all kinds of other dual-use goods, and if you look at the figures of Russian imports or transit to some Central Asian countries for example, some of them are very surprising,” Poland’s foreign affairs minister Radosław Sikorski said in Singapore this week.
Such warnings are unlikely to deter Anwar. The veteran politician has maintained a non-aligned stance since coming to power in 2022, saying he will not choose sides as he looks to court investment and grow the economy.
In 2022, Russia was Malaysia’s eighth-largest trading partner among European countries, with total trade rising 15.6% to US$3.1 billion that year, according to Malaysia’s foreign ministry.