Russian President Vladimir Putin assured his Chinese counterpart during Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow in March that the invasion of Ukraine would take at least five years, Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported on Thursday.
According to Nikkei it is This was Putin’s way of explaining to Xi that the situation at the beginning of this year was not particularly favorable for Russia on the fronts in Ukraine, but that he continued to believe in the victory of the troops commanded by Moscow.
Putin’s version with the Chinese leader also emphasized the benefits to Beijing of a protracted war in Europe, given the possibility of China becoming a commercial partner in armaments.
The Japanese newspaper also interprets this message from the Russian leader as “a warning to Xi not to change his pro-Russian position.”
Throughout the conflict in Ukraine Beijing has never condemned the Russian invasion and has opposed Western sanctions on Moscow, although it has shown signs it is uncomfortable with a country seeing its territorial sovereignty violated.
Xi was received at the Kremlin on March 21, and it was then that the Chinese leader learned of Putin’s guarantee that the war in Ukraine would never last less than five years.
Xi’s trip to Moscow was the Chinese president’s first after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with the two leaders emphasizing the strengthening of political and commercial ties between their countries, in words that signaled China’s tacit support for the Russian ‘special military operation’ emphasized. “.
However, after Xi’s visit to Moscow, China sent a “peacekeeping mission” to Europe, in a gesture seen as an attempt to show the international community, and Moscow, that it would not seek to sever diplomatic ties with Western countries.
So far, neither the Kremlin nor Beijing have responded to the Nikkei news.
Recently, The American newspaper The New York Times reported that Putin has used intermediaries to send the message to the White House that he will be open to discussing the possibility of a ceasefire, with the condition that Ukrainian territories now occupied by Moscow.
Several international analysts have said that if the invasion of Ukraine continues much longer, it will have a real impact on Xi Jinping’s ambitions for his third term as President of China and as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, especially given his plan to unite Taiwan with mainland China.
The military offensive that Russia launched in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II (1939-1945), according to the most recent UN data.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by most of the international community, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and impose political and economic sanctions on Russia.
Source: DN
