Putin has been successfully re-elected as president of Russia, and at the same time, the news of Putin's visit to China, which has been rumored by the outside world for a long time, has also "landed on the ground." According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Putin will arrive in China on May 16 for a two-day visit to China. This is his first major diplomatic activity after being re-elected as president, and it is also Putin's second visit to China after seven months. In mid-October last year, Putin came to China to participate in the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Although China and Russia have maintained quite frequent and close interaction at the top level in recent years, Putin still pays a lot of attention to every time he visits China, otherwise the news that Putin will visit China in May has been released a long time ago, and various discussions have been carried out.
A very important reason why Putin's visit to China has attracted much attention from the outside world is that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is currently fierce. In recent months, the Russian army's offensive has risen again, and a second front has been opened, in the past few months, the Russian army's operational focus has basically been placed on the eastern region of Ukraine, and recently the Russian army began to attack Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. In the eyes of some observers, this is another battlefield opened by the Russian army to disperse the forces of the Ukrainian army. After more than two years of attrition, the number of soldiers of the Ukrainian army has been decreasing and is at risk of depletion. Although Western countries can give Ukraine a steady stream of assistance in the supply of weapons and equipment, Western countries are also powerless to deal with the issue of soldiers. The Russian army's attack on Kharkiv is to make it impossible for the Ukrainian army to take care of the fighting on two fronts at the same time.
At the same time as the Russian army opened up the second battlefield, Putin also made some adjustments to the personnel of the Russian Ministry of Defense, and it is particularly important to note that Shoigu, who has followed Putin for many years and served in the Russian Ministry of Defense for many years, was recently dismissed from the post of defense minister. It stands to reason that the Russian-Ukrainian war is now at a very critical moment, and at this critical juncture, Putin must focus all his work on the war situation. However, even in this situation, Putin still found time to accept the invitation of the Chinese side to visit China, which highlights the importance of Sino-Russian relations to Russia at a critical moment.
Especially at present, Russia is facing severe sanctions from Western countries, and the external environment has a very big impact on its own economy, and a few days ago, US President Joe Biden signed an order to prohibit American energy companies from importing Russian oil. Economically, the Russian economy can only look east, when Western countries can no longer be counted. It is expected that during this visit, China and Russia will sign a series of cooperation agreements, especially energy cooperation, and there is still a lot of room for cooperation. In addition, cooperation in other areas must also keep up. There is no doubt that although the current war between Russia and Ukraine is very anxious, the Kremlin must devote its energy to the development and consolidation of Sino-Russian relations as a top priority.
Of course, for China, the relationship between China and Russia is also very important, especially in the context of the United States constantly co-opting allies in an attempt to suppress and contain China, consolidating the friendship between China and Russia can, to a certain extent, help China reduce the security threats it faces from the United States and its allies. The more the United States sows discord between China and Russia, the more China and Russia will have to strengthen their bilateral relations.