Moscow and Nauru: friendship forever

Russian news agency Interfax announced a significant change in bilateral relationships between Russia and Nauru:

Russia and the smallest non-European independent nation of Nauru is preparing to abolish the visa regime for each other.

For your information (from different sources) :

The territory of the island nation of Nauru - 26 sq. km The island is inhabited by 6,763 men and 6,765 women. The state has no capital, because there is nowhere to place it. GDP of Nauru - 23 million dollars . Due to the shortage of human resources the President of Nauru , Mr. Waqa is at the same time the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Economy and the Minister of Finance (until June 23 of this year he was also the Prime Minister). Nauru has no army and no police. When something happens, the President invites police from Australia. 

Nauru is the smallest island state, the smallest independent republic on Earth, the smallest mini-state outside Europe and the only in the world republic without the official capital.

And another interesting detail: during the Russian default of 1998, 70 billion U.S. dollars was transferred from Russia banks to Nauru.

And an interesting political angle:

The world’s smallest republic, Nauru, is ready to support Russia’s position on all issues, its president Divavesi Waqa said at talks with the acting governor of the Sverdlovsk region in Russia’s Urals on Wednesday.

This eagerness to support Russia on all issues expressed itself in Nauru being one of the very few countries that formally recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia - two puppet "republics", taken over by Russia after its war with Georgia in 2008. A piquant detail was bandied in the media regarding this support:

It was the chatter of the Caucasus: Did Russia agree to pay $50 million to the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru in exchange for formally recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported? Russia has lobbied its allies to recognize the breakaway enclaves since its 2008 war with Georgia, but with little success, until last week’s announcement.

That amount was definitely a sign of largess on the part of Russia, since:

If Russia did pay that much, it got robbed, said Jason Sharman, a specialist in South Pacific islands. He said Taiwan, whose sovereignty China rejects, pays $5 million a year for recognition from Nauru, which has offered diplomatic recognition for cash since its chief source of income, phosphates formed by centuries of bird droppings, is nearly exhausted. “I would have thought the Russians would have gotten a better deal,” said Mr. Sharman of Griffith University in Australia.

But what, after all, is a bit of money between friends? The important thing is that people of Nauru will be able to visit Moscow visa-free in droves now:

And vice versa, as far as the territory of Nauru allows (standing room only, of course)...