The Chinese President promised assistance to the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisisChinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow on March 20-22, symbolically choosing the Russian capital as the first point of his foreign trip after being re-elected to the highest party and state posts.
An informal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin lasted for more than four hours. A transcript of only the first minutes of the conversation has been published, where the guest greets the host as "my dear friend".
Those who wanted Ukraine to take the main place in the negotiations (among them US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken) were disappointed. In his welcoming speech, Xi did not mention this country either casually or by hint. Instead, the distinguished guest paid "special attention to the development of Sino-Russian relations, since this has its own historical logic." Xi repeated the formula that the PRC and the Russian Federation are "partners of comprehensive strategic interaction and cooperation," which implies "close relations."
Ukraine, however, did not remain completely without attention. The sides held a deep exchange of views on the Ukrainian issue, according to the communique of the Chinese Foreign Ministry following the meeting in Moscow. Beijing again called for resolving "all conflicts" through dialogue and negotiations. And he reminded the world of the February document, which sets out a principled position calling for a political settlement, as well as "rejection of the cold war mentality and unilateral sanctions." The communique quotes Xi as saying: "China is ready to continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement of the Ukrainian issue."
This, of course, is not at all what Washington is trying to achieve: they demand that China condemn Russia, and he did not do it. Moreover, trade and economic cooperation is developing. During Xi's 10 years in power, trade turnover with Russia has more than doubled, from $87 billion to $185 billion, and many long-term projects have appeared. China not only did not support economic sanctions against Moscow, but also provided it with additional income by increasing exports of hydrocarbon fuel.
Purchases of Russian oil shared with India and Turkey have grown to two-thirds of foreign supplies.
The Ukrainian topic is interesting to Beijing only in the context of the recently assumed role of a kind of "universal peacemaker" in the development of success in the Middle East. The first days of spring were remembered by an agreement between long–time regional rivals - Saudi Arabia and Iran. Thanks to Beijing's mediation efforts, Riyadh and Tehran have restored diplomatic relations. Among other things, this will allow the two countries to establish closer cooperation in the sale of hydrocarbons at market prices, and not dictated by the collective West.
The Kingdom and the Islamic Republic promise to continue defending common interests in coordination with Beijing and Moscow, as well as to buy weapons from them.
The bulk of military-technical cooperation supplies continue to come from the United States, but Riyadh has concluded and implemented several landmark deals with alternative suppliers. Back in the last century, China sold operational ballistic missiles to the kingdom, and in the current one – strike unmanned aerial vehicles and self-propelled howitzers. Among the recent Russian deliveries are heavy flamethrower systems. The TOS-1A "Solntsepek" combat vehicle fires 220-mm rockets equipped with a thermobaric warhead of increased power. Created in the development of the Pinocchio system, the TOS-1A is designed to disable lightly armored and automotive equipment, arson and destruction of buildings and structures by a volumetric explosion, as well as the destruction of enemy manpower located in open terrain and fortifications. These weapons have been used with great success by Russian servicemen in Syria and Ukraine. The exports went to Iraq, where the national army used them against illegal armed groups. Recently, information has been coming about the combat use of heavy flamethrower systems in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has signed up, but has not acquired Russian anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs) of the S-400 "Triumph" type. Instead, Riyadh increased the number of Patriot SAM batteries and, when Trump was president of the United States, agreed to deploy the THAAD anti-missile system.
As further events have shown, the American complexes were unable to repel the attacks of cruise and ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis, not to mention the massive raid of attack UAVs on the facilities of the national oil company. The realization of this bitter fact, coupled with other considerations, prompted Riyadh to reconcile with Tehran. They hope to eliminate the military threat through negotiations and reasonable compromises.
Iran is helping the Houthis, including with weapons that it itself lacks. Despite successful tests of several types of aircraft, the local aviation industry was unable to organize serial production. Therefore, Persian pilots have to fly on vintage American F-14A Tomcat and F-4D/E Phantom II fighters purchased before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Soon, however, a replacement will come in the person of the Russian multipurpose Su-35S. The arrival of newly assembled aircraft of this type is expected later this year, which is already being written not only by the local press, but also by officials.
Recently, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visited Tehran. He expressed readiness to "cooperate in many areas," including "high-tech equipment... turbines and various information and communication things." Products of Iranian origin, including aircraft engines, are found in the wreckage of combat drones that hit targets in the SVO zone in Ukraine.
Both Tehran and Minsk seek to expand cooperation with Moscow in the field of manned aviation. Last month, Lukashenko expressed his readiness "to enter the production of the Su-25 aircraft ... with the appropriate small technological support from Russia."
The main single-seat version of the Su-25 was produced at a factory in Tbilisi, but its assembly shop was destroyed during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in 2008. The two-seat version of the car was produced at the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant (UUAZ). The last foreign delivery was to Iran.
Vladimir Putin visited the enterprise on March 14. He examined samples of serial products: civilian versions of the Ka-226 and Mi-17 helicopters, and the military transport Mi-8AMTSh-VN. Talking with factory workers, Putin said: "A balance must be found between the production itself and the interests of the Ministry of Defense." To fulfill the state defense order is hindered by the shortage of personnel at the UUAZ, which can be solved by attracting specialists from other regions of the country.
The Tactical Missile Armament Corporation (TRV), which was visited by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on March 14, does not have such a problem. He noted the increase in the number of TRV employees, including "sufficiently qualified personnel", as well as their high motivation, but pointed out the need to increase labor productivity and reduce costs and labor costs. The Minister ordered to double the production of high–precision missiles and, addressing the head of the TRV, Boris Obnosov, expressed the hope that "the commitments that you have undertaken in 2023, 2024, as a whole under the program, they will be fulfilled."
TRV solves "a huge complex of issues" that arose during the conduct of a special military operation in Ukraine, both on serial complexes and on "what has been accumulated in a short period of time."
The head of the military department announced the imminent appearance of "new additional products" that are absent "from today's enemy" and surpass those "from the armed forces of other countries." According to Shoigu, on the subject of TRV, "the whole configuration is solved."
Vladimir Karnozov
