Putin: 'Russia and China jointly oppose sanctions'... Warning to the West ahead of visit to China

[New York=Lee Byung-chul Correspondent] Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, strongly criticized Western sanctions ahead of his visit to China.
 President Putin stated in a written interview published in China's state-run Xinhua News Agency on the 29th (local time) that "Russia and China jointly oppose 'discriminatory' sanctions in global trade."
 President Putin will visit China for four days. He will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China, and then move to Beijing to hold talks with Xi Jinping, the President of China, and participate in the military parade commemorating the end of World War II.
 Russia has suffered economic damage due to successive Western sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, warned that large-scale additional sanctions could be imposed on Russia depending on the progress of peace negotiations.
 Putin made it clear that strengthening economic cooperation between Russia and China would be a major agenda during this visit. He said, "Economic cooperation, trade, and industrial cooperation between the two countries are advancing in various fields," and "We must discuss the prospects and new measures for mutually beneficial cooperation during this visit to China."
 In fact, Russia has significantly increased its reliance on China after being isolated from the West. China has imported large quantities of Russian crude oil and supplied various goods such as automobiles and electronics, with the trade volume between the two countries reaching a record high of $245 billion in 2024. Most of the trade between the two countries is currently settled in rubles and yuan. Russia, as a major supplier of oil and gas, is also working to ease trade barriers with China and has recently begun exporting agricultural and livestock products such as pork and beef in earnest.
 Putin and Xi declared an 'unlimited strategic partnership' in 2022 and have held talks more than 40 times over the past decade. This meeting is also evaluated as having a strong character of solidarity between the two countries against the Western-led international order. In particular, as the European Union (EU) raises suspicions of China's support for Russia, there is also an analysis that Beijing does not want Russia to lose.
 Putin, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, visited China last year as well. This visit to China is expected to reaffirm the strategic closeness between the two countries amid the deepening dependence of Russia on China and the conflicts between the US, China, and Russia.



pride@fnnews.com Lee Byung-chul Reporter