Russia’s president claimed on Wednesday that Moscow and Beijing were not trying to build a Cold War-esque alliance, though noted their increasingly vital relations.
Russian-Chinese cooperation in the military and technological fields is becoming “more and more important”, said Vladimir Putin in Moscow, receiving China’s vice-president of the Central Military Commission General Zhang Youxia.
But, he added: “Russia and China are not building a Cold War-style military alliance” – in response to Western concerns about the pair’s growing ties.
The West wants to prevent China from providing support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the G7 calling on Beijing “not to help” Moscow on Wednesday.
A US intelligence report published in June found that Beijing had likely supplied Russia with key military technologies it is using in Ukraine, including fighter jet parts and drones.
Speaking today, Putin claimed NATO was seeking to “exceed its geographical framework” and Washington was trying “to create new alliances” in Asia.
“We see all this and, together with our friends, we react calmly, in a balanced manner, strengthening our defensive capabilities,” he said.
Moscow and Beijing maintain strong ties, which have strengthened since Russia invaded its western neighbour in February 2022.
While it has refused to condemn the war, China’s stance on the Ukraine war is complicated, with the country pushed and pulled in many competing directions.
Putin visited China in October, his first trip to a major world power since attacking Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu also insisted Moscow and Beijing were “not creating a military bloc” – unlike “certain aggressive Western countries”.
While also receiving Chinese General Zhang Youxia, he said cooperation between the two was not “directed against third countries.”
Shoigu spoke to Zhang about “measures to strengthen cooperation in the field of defence”, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.
The Chinese general, for his part, said Russian-Chinese relations were at their “highest level”, according to a Russian transcription of his remarks.
