Putin’s visit to China marks another shift in Russia’s geopolitical strategy, prompted by Western actions since 2014. Initially seeking integration with Europe, Russia’s annexation of Crimea led to an alliance with China, bolstering its economy against Western sanctions. Strengthened by BRICS and Chinese support, Russia navigates a multipolar world, countering U.S. dominance. In Beijing, Putin and Xi fortify their partnership, advocating for peace and stability. Western media and elites, blind to their subservience to the U.S., miss the need for diplomatic engagement with emerging global powers.
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by Elena Basile
Putin’s visit to China marks another step in the journey imposed on Russia by the West’s pathological worldview, a journey that Russia, which had been knocking on Europe’s door for decades, has been forced to take. When Putin came to power in 2000, he had two strategic objectives: integrating Russia into Euro-Atlantic economic governance structures and rebuilding state sovereignty. Until 2014, he managed to reconcile Moscow’s strategic independence with the need for stable economic relations with the West. The widely documented military coup at Maidan Square in 2014 left the Kremlin astounded.
The troubled decision to annex Crimea to protect the Sevastopol base on the Black Sea could have initiated an autarchic development, stripping the Russian president of the support of the social and economic bloc that had grown wealthy through trade and investment with Europe. The safeguarding of Russian sovereignty no longer seemed compatible with Moscow’s economic interests. In 2014, the West also underwent disintermediation between capital and political interests. The West repudiated globalization, which had redistributed economic power in favor of China and emerging economies. It adopted a strategy known as friendshoring: trading and investing only with friends.
In 2014, the Russian annexation of Crimea was carried out by a stunned yet deliberate leadership. The revolt against the American-led de-sovereignization of Moscow was possible because a new world was emerging in the shadow of China. The New Silk Road, which could have brought development and prosperity to the Eurasian area with significant benefits for European countries, was launched in 2013. In 2014, Russia signed a $400 billion agreement with China for energy supply and the construction of energy infrastructure. This marked the beginning of unprecedented economic cooperation that strengthened the Eurasian economic union. From 2008 onwards, a multipolar world began to take shape. The BRICS were founded in 2020, expanded, and found common ground in opposing U.S. hegemony, which only found comfort in military supremacy. Thanks to China and the Global South, Moscow survived the risky gamble that began in 2014 and the Western sanctions, emerging much stronger.
In Beijing, Xi and Putin reinforced their collaboration. Russian imports of Chinese electric cars and components for the defense industry increased, as did exports to China of energy and agricultural products. The much-criticized autarchies in geopolitics declare common goals of peace and global stabilization, such as a ceasefire in Gaza with the immediate release of hostages and a peace conference to achieve a two-state solution. Putin supports Chinese mediation, the 12 points of which remain the only rational and strategic diplomatic parameters. With ritualistic myopia, former colleagues receiving perks and cushy jobs by collaborating with U.S.-funded think tanks suppress intellectual honesty (are we pro-Putin betraying the values of the Republic?), and explain to us that China is dominant and needs the West, given that trade with Europe is almost double that with Moscow. They emphasize Russia’s subordination but fail to see Europe’s subordination to Washington.
In reality, Russia and the BRICS are aligning with China, which, in the face of illegal Western financial actions (excluding Moscow from SWIFT, economic sanctions, and the seizure of $300 billion in Russian funds in euros), has accelerated the process of dedollarization. The BRICS are growing in number, supporting globalization and the reform of multilateralism, the UN, and OSCE, ending Western double standards, applying clear and consistent rules, and reforming the IMF and World Bank’s economic governance. If the West were healthy and the media-political space uncorrupted, these would be the issues on which reflection would center. A diplomatic mediation strategy with China, the BRICS, and the Global South for the requested reforms and stabilization of crisis areas should be developed. However, arrogant and disdainful, like my former colleagues who were once co-opted for their loyalty in the corridors of power and now preach on the most-read newspapers, Western ruling classes dehumanize the other, leaving future generations with runaway debt, the failure of the green transition, the digital surveillance system, and conflicts.
