Expert: Xi's Moscow visit shouldn’t be taken lightly

The opinion was expressed in a comment to Ukrinform by the Director of the Russian and Belarusian Studies Program at the Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council, Candidate of Historical Sciences Yaroslav Chornohor.

He recalled that the four-day trip of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Moscow is a state visit, which is therefore of practical and symbolic significance.

"It is important for China to demonstrate good relations with Russia. And if we take into account the current context, where (U.S. President's special envoy - ed.) Witkoff comes to Putin as the Trump team keeps trying to tear Russia away from China, demonstrating unity between partners is not a secondary goal,” the expert said.

Chornohor also recalled that Xi Jinping came to the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February 2014, while Putin visited Beijing on February 4, 2022, on the eve of the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

“I think many things in the world happen after Putin receives consent, approval, or assurances from the Chinese leader that there will be no resistance,” suggested the pundit.

Commenting on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's confirmation of Xi Jinping's visit to Russia on May 9 despite the lack of security guarantees from Ukraine, Chornohor noted that China considers itself a superpower that can dictate conditions to the entire world, and many other countries agree with this.

"Therefore, if a visit that has the status of a state one is scheduled for May, it wouldn’t be acceptable for the leader of a superpower to react to any threats. Most likely, Putin convinced China that he would be able to guarantee Xi's safety throughout his stay in Moscow," the expert noted.

In response to the question of what additional risks the meeting of the two leaders poses for Ukraine, Chornohor said it would be difficult to predict, because these countries usually offer official statements only.

"In fact, anything can happen. We don’t know for sure what they (Putin and Xi, - ed.) are planning. We will monitor the situation and try not to miss any obvious or hidden signs during that event. There is nothing terrible at the moment, but we shouldn’t take this visit lightly either,” the expert believes.

According to him, so far there is nothing indicating that the Chinese may appear on the battlefield as Russia’s formal allies.

“Still, economic and military-technical cooperation is what poses a serious threat to Ukraine because Russia is currently in a very difficult economic situation. We often focus on Russia’s human resources, but in fact they lack all other resources for waging war, too – technical, technological, weapons-related… China’s support for the Russian economy is already a threat to us. Even if China buys some products in the EU countries and the U.S. and uses its economy to circumvent sanctions imposed on the Putin regime, this is already assistance to Russia,” Chornohor stated.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping, despite the statement by President Volodymyr Zelensky that the Ukrainian side will not provide any security guarantees in the territory of the Russian Federation on May 9, will pay a four-day visit to Moscow.

The Chinese leader will come to Russia on a state visit on May 7-10 and take part in the celebrations in Moscow on the occasion of Victory Day.