Moscow then withdrew all Soviet economic advisers and technicians from the country, including those at work on the Palace of Culture, and halted shipments of supplies and spare parts for equipment already in place in Albania.

China also presented Albania with a powerful radio transmission station from which Tirana sang the praises of Joseph Stalin, Enver Hoxha, and Mao Zedong for decades.

Even with the Sino-Albanian split, the Albanians refused to normalize relations with the Soviet Union, leaving their country virtually completely isolated from the outside world.

[6] The goal of the visit was to pressure Albania into building Yugoslav–Albanian and Soviet–Albanian relations as well as, according to historian Miranda Vickers, "focus their economy on the growing of citrus fruits rather than concentrate on industrialization".

[10][11] In April 1995, Albanian prime minister Aleksandër Meksi officially visited Moscow and signed a series of economic and political agreements.

[3] In the 1990s, the staff at Russia's Albanian embassy was enlarged three times its previous size, due to the growth of Russian intelligence operatives active in Albania.

[13] For example in 2002 when Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, days before a visit to Albania, said that where Albanians are the dominant population, human trafficking and crime was prevalent.

[13] As part of Russia's international disinformation efforts, it criticized Albania's stance on the Kosovo question and pressured Tirana to not seek close relations with Pristina.

[13] Russia has alleged that Albania interferes in the internal affairs of Macedonia and Serbia, whereas Tirana is suspicious of Moscow's strong backing of Belgrade's policies.

[14] In 2002, Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta went to Moscow and both states agreed to create economic committees and sign agreements for agriculture and tackling crime.

Within the wider Balkans Albania is considered to be the most pro-EU and pro-Western country in the region and unlike its neighbours (except Kosovo), it has little to negligible support for Russia.

[23] Albanian authorities were concerned with Russia's increasing deployment of its power and stated that the West needed to respond in a firm and unitary manner toward Russian actions in Ukraine.

[23] In mid February 2022, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov accused Albania and two other Balkan countries of sending mercenaries to the Donbass conflict in Ukraine.

Russia's recognition of the separatist regions in the Ukrainian Donbass as independent was condemned by Albania as a violation of the Minsk Protocol, international law and of Ukraine's statehood and borders.

[30] In late February 2022, Albania and the US tabled a co-written resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the 15 member UN Security Council, but failed to pass as Russia vetoed it.

[32][33] At the emergency General Assembly session, Albania voted in favour of a resolution which successfully passed that condemned Russia's invasion and demanded its military withdrawal from Ukraine.

[34] Albania imposed sanctions on Russia targeting the political and business elite close to President Vladimir Putin, on sectors related to energy, finance, technology and transport, and denying airspace access to Russian aircraft.

[42] In Albania, President Meta, Foreign Minister Xhaçka and the Speaker of Parliament Lindita Nikolla all condemned Russia for the Bucha massacre and called for an international response and independent investigation.

[44] In late September 2022, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution tabled by Albania and the US opposing the Russian annexation of occupied areas of Ukraine.