(Ussuriysk) Russian President Vladimir Putin supervised military exercises in which China participates on Tuesday, before an economic forum turned towards Asia, at a time when Moscow looks towards the East in full conflict with the West.
Posted at 9:23 a.m.
Updated at 9:40 a.m.
Since the start of its offensive in Ukraine on February 24, which earned it unprecedented Western sanctions, Russia has set its sights firmly on Asia, in particular to find outlets, suppliers and markets to replace those lost. due to American and European measures.
For its part, China is going through a diplomatic crisis with Washington, especially since the visit to Taiwan in August by the speaker of the American House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
It is in this context that Moscow has been conducting large-scale military exercises in the Russian Far East since last Thursday, in which several allied countries, including Chinese soldiers, are participating.
In the rain and in the fog, Mr. Putin went Tuesday morning to the military training ground of Sergeyevsky, one of the sites hosting these maneuvers, dubbed Vostok-2022 (Orient-2022). He had previously had a “meeting behind closed doors” with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov.
According to Moscow, more than 50,000 servicemen as well as more than 5,000 pieces of armament and military equipment, including 140 aircraft and 60 ships, are mobilized for Vostok-2022.
Units from several border countries or allies of Russia, such as Belarus, Syria, India, but especially China, participate.
On Wednesday, the military must give way to economics, with the participation of Mr. Putin in the Eastern Economic Forum which has been taking place since Monday in Vladivostok (south-eastern Russia).
The Chinese delegation will be the largest there with 114 people, according to the Kremlin.
The head of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Li Zhanshu, China’s third-highest official, will attend the forum’s plenary session alongside Putin. A bilateral meeting is also planned.
More gas to China
Another sign of the rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing, the Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on Tuesday that China would now settle its contracts in rubles and yuan, instead of the dollar. Gazprom boss Alexei Miller said he hoped in a statement that this measure would give “additional impetus to the development of our economies”.
New agreements for the purchase and sale of long-term gas via the eastern gas pipeline “Force of Siberia” were also signed on Tuesday.
“Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation are developing gradually,” the Kremlin said in a statement, praising “China’s balanced approach to the Ukrainian crisis” and Beijing’s “understanding” of the reasons for the Russian offensive.
In addition, the first Russian bank, Sberbank, announced on Tuesday that it had started granting loans in yuan, ensuring that there was “strong demand” in the country.
Apart from China, India and Burma will also be honored at the Forum in Vladivostok, the head of the Burmese junta Min Aung Hlaing being expected there.
In Moscow, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai is to be received on Tuesday by his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who had visited Burma and Cambodia in August.
Finally, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, scheduled for September 15-16 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, will be another opportunity for Putin to focus on deepening relations in Asia.
A meeting could even take place, according to diplomatic sources, between Mr Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who has not left China since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two men had seen each other in early February in China, a few weeks before the Russian offensive against Ukraine. Moscow and Beijing then signed a joint declaration calling for a “new era” in international relations as well as the end of American hegemony and denouncing the role of Western military alliances, NATO and Aukus (Australia, United Kingdom and United States).