Russia looks east: Putin calls on Xi to increase military cooperation

Isolated from Western countries after sending the army to Ukraine, Putin has taken his political alliances and economic interests to other latitudes this year, with preference to Asia, and especially China.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
30 December 2022 Friday 06:30
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Russia looks east: Putin calls on Xi to increase military cooperation

Isolated from Western countries after sending the army to Ukraine, Putin has taken his political alliances and economic interests to other latitudes this year, with preference to Asia, and especially China. The Russian president spoke this Friday by videoconference with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to whom he expressed his desire to increase military cooperation between the two countries.

In the little more than twenty minutes that were made public, the head of the Kremlin reiterated that cooperation between Russia and China on the world stage contributes to the formation of a just world order. Putin has repeated this idea before, in several summits in which both leaders have participated.

Moscow and Beijing, "in conditions of unprecedented pressure and provocations from the West" defend not only their interests, but also "all those who advocate a truly democratic world order and the right of countries to freely determine their destiny" Putin said, in line with his continued defense that the unipolar world, dominated by the United States, has ended and a situation with various centers of power is beginning.

In that situation, Putin expressed to his Chinese counterpart his desire to "increase cooperation between the Russian and Chinese armed forces."

The Kremlin hopes that the solidarity between Moscow and Beijing will become more evident. A good way for this closeness to become more public would be the visit of the Chinese president to the Russian capital, which the Russians expect in the spring of 2023. Putin assured that he is waiting for it.

"We are waiting for you, dear Mr. President, dear friend, we are expecting a state visit to Moscow next spring," Putin said. According to him, this would "demonstrate to the world the closeness of Russian-Chinese relations."

In his turn to reply, Xi assured that China is ready to increase strategic cooperation with Russia in a "difficult" context in the world at large.

In the past, both leaders assured that their relationship "has no limits." For

Russia, that relationship has become especially important since Putin decided on February 24 to launch against Ukraine and start what he called a "special military operation."

In the face of conflict, China maintains a wait-and-see attitude. Beijing has not condemned the Russian military campaign, although it has called for talks and a peaceful solution to be reached. In fact, at a September summit in Samarkand (Uzbekistan), Vladimir Putin acknowledged that Xi Jinping had expressed his concern about the situation in Ukraine.

On the other hand, China has become an economic lifeline for Russia. Moscow has significantly increased energy exports to the Asian giant.

However, Beijing refrains from sending its partner support material that could lead to Western sanctions.