‘Putin is crazy’: China ‘believes Russia will fail in Ukraine and emerge as a minor power’

Chinese officials have called Vladimir Putin “insane” and claimed Beijing believes Russia will fail in its war in Ukraine and emerge from the conflict as a “minor power”.

Several Chinese officials warned that Beijing should not “just follow Russia” and blindly support the war in Ukraine, in a rare rebuke of Putin’s barbaric invasion.

Officials have said they believe Russia will not win the war in Ukraine – and the consequences of such an expensive and deadly conflict will leave Moscow as a “minor power” with a shrunken economy and a weak position appeared on the world stage.

The scathing comments by Chinese officials, some of whom accused Putin of being “insane”, are a major turning point in supposedly friendly relations between Russia and China – just a month after the two countries pledged to deepen bilateral ties .

The Ukrainian military’s Grad multiple rocket launcher fired rockets at Russian frontline positions near Soledar in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on Wednesday.

It now appears that President Xi Jinping is doing his best – through his officials – to distance himself from Putin and his war as the Chinese leader now focuses on improving his diplomatic ties with the West.

“Putin is crazy,” a Chinese official told the Financial Times. “The invasion decision was made by a very small group of people. China should not simply follow Russia.”

Beijing now thinks it is likely that Russia will fail in its mission to win the war against Ukraine and emerge from the conflict as a “lesser power,” Chinese officials said.

On the ground in Ukraine, Russia suffered a series of setbacks, with hundreds of soldiers killed in heavy fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar. And to make matters worse for Moscow, Iran has reportedly delayed supplying missiles to Russian troops on the front lines.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 11 months ago, Xi has stopped publicly criticizing Putin over the war – but in November he bluntly warned the Russian president against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, in his biggest public rebuke yet . .

And Chinese officials have now said there is distrust of Putin in the halls of power in Beijing. They said Moscow did not inform China that it would launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine before Putin ordered the attack.

An official told the newspaper that Putin only told Xi that Russia “will not rule out taking all possible measures if separatists from eastern Ukraine attack Russian territory and cause humanitarian disasters”.

This suggests that private tensions have been brewing between China and Russia for some time. China’s foreign ministry has publicly reiterated Russian talking points about NATO expansionism, the West’s “Cold War mentality” and denounced journalists for using the words “war” or “invasion”.

Ukrainian soldiers at their frontline positions near Soledar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Wednesday

But now that Moscow’s forces have been torn apart on the battlefield, China’s tone has changed. At a summit in Uzbekistan in September, Putin was forced to publicly admit that Xi had “questions and concerns” after meeting him.

Now Xi is trying to distance himself from Putin and his war as part of a broader strategy to improve China’s relations with Europe and its image at home. rare nationwide protests against his disastrous zero-Covid policy.

Xi is apparently trying to position himself as the one who can stop Putin from using nuclear weapons.

In November, Xi issued a direct warning to Putin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, in what was China’s strongest rebuke of the Kremlin to date.

Xi also urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited Beijing, to push for peace talks, saying the international community should “create the conditions for negotiations to resume (and) reject the use or threat of nuclear weapons.”

“China would always have been against the use of nuclear weapons,” Susan Shirk, president of the 21st Century China Center at the University of California San Diego, told the FT.

“But when Xi Jinping says such things to European leaders, he wants to emphasize a certain distance from Russia.”

Putin is suffering a series of setbacks in Ukraine – and to make matters worse, Iran is reportedly delaying the delivery of drones to Russian soldiers on the front lines.

According to reports, Putin called Iranian leader Ebrahim Raisi to “find out what caused the delay in the delivery of weapons, mainly ballistic missiles and launchers for these missiles,” Russian Telegram channel General SVR claimed.

“The Iranian president attributed the delay to problems and promised to resume in time,” the Telegram channel claimed today.

The drone issue was said to be the real reason for a phone call between Putin and Raisi.

A statement from the Kremlin bluntly said the calls were about “comprehensive expansion of bilateral cooperation” and “consistent implementation of mutually beneficial energy, transport and logistics projects.”

Moscow has become dependent on Iranian drones and missiles for chronically slow weapons production at its own military factories.

In November, Iran’s foreign minister admitted that his country had supplied Russia with drones, insisting that the transfer took place before Moscow’s war with Ukraine, where Iranian drones bombed Kiev.

But the US administration said in December that Iran had sold hundreds of attack drones to Russia over the summer and that Russia was taking steps to provide Iran with advanced military aid, including air defense systems, helicopters and warplanes.