Putin and Xi discussed deepening their strategic partnership as the war in Ukraine grinds on
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The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow and Beijing to deepen the strategic ties, while talking with the “dear friend” Chinese president Xi Jinping in a video call.
Putin instructed Xi to answer the call by providing plans to expand the “comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation” between Russia and China, strengthening a geopolitical alliance that seeks to weaken Western hegemony.
In a video released by the Kremlin of the conversation, Putin said: “I agree with you that cooperation between Moscow and Beijing is based on a broad commonality of national interests and a convergence of views on what relations between major powers should be.
“We build our ties on the basis of friendship, trust and mutual support, equality and mutual benefit. These ties are self-sufficient, independent of national political points and the existing situation. “
Putin added that Moscow and Beijing’s foreign policies play a stabilizing role in foreign affairs.
The two autocrats have long sought to offer the West a country in decline, while China continues to bear the biggest U. S. economic risk and Putin’s war against Ukrainian forces provided through the West.
As the war rages for three years and a new era opens with Donald Trump’s accession to the White House, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested that European leaders identify themselves as tough global actors.
“All European countries will have to be willing to spend as much as necessary on security, not just what they are accustomed to through years of neglect,” he told world leaders at the World Economic Forum. Davos. “If 5% of GDP is needed to cover defense, as long as it is, 5%, that is the case. “
Defense expenses will not be compensated at the expense of health care or pensions, he added, saying that “it is not fair. “
In the speech, for which he won extremely joyful applause, M. Zelensky also warned that Putin will return to Europe with an army 10 times the size of what invaded Ukraine in 2022, if a long-term diplomatic solution has “strong security guarantees “
Kyiv has increased the regularity of its long-range strikes into Russia as it looks to damage energy infrastructure and military facilities.
Ukrainian forces attacked a Russian aeronautical factory in the Smolensk region and an oil depot in the Voronej region on Tuesday, the Ukrainian military said.
The Liskinskaya oil depot in Voronezh was attacked for the second time last week, after a Ukrainian attack on January 16 hit fuel and lubricant tanks and caused a fire at facilities run by Rosneft, kyiv’s general staff said. .
Russia’s Defence Ministry says it intercepted 55 Ukrainian drones in a large-scale overnight attack on Tuesday, including 10 drones over the Smolensk region and six over the Voronezh region. Ukraine says it downed 72 of 131 drones fired by Russia overnight.
Meanwhile, a senior German official warned Monday that Russia would move faster than previously thought, and would possibly prepare to attack a NATO country.
“The Russian armed forces must not only compensate for the enormous human and material losses, but also manage to rearm themselves,” said German Major General Christian Freuding.
While Putin is necessarily planning an attack on a NATO state, General Freuding said he is “clearly creating the situations for it. “The head of the German army’s task force in Ukraine reported that production and materials are expanding in Russia, with Iran and the North. Korea helps fill its arsenal with widely used missiles, drones, and tanks.
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