Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing was not successful. Despite efforts by propaganda agencies to describe the Russian president’s second trip abroad after Kyrgyzstan, following his indictment by the Hague Tribunal last March, as a symbolic victory over the West, Putin returned to Russia without signing the required important agreements: He was aiming for that. For agreements in the energy sector, or doubling the Siberian gas pipeline, or in the field of agriculture, with increased wheat exports (at the moment China imports wheat from Russia only 1.5% of its needs) which it had hoped instead to tighten.
News published by TASS about a $25 billion “big wheat contract” was dismissed by wheat analyst Anri Sizov as a PR statement from a private company. “All the news about this huge contract comes from Russia. The rest of the world is out of the picture,” he said in an interview with the Moscow Times newspaper, which reconstructed the true outcome of Putin’s visit.
On the energy front, the agreement to build the “Power of Siberia 2” gas pipeline, which Beijing and Moscow have been discussing for years, is necessary for Moscow to transfer at least part of the 170 billion cubic meters of gas that it no longer needs. Exports to Europe, right was tight. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told Russian television that Russia would soon supply the same amount of gas to China. But experts point out that this is practically impossible.
“Siberian Energy 2, which is still on paper, is presented in the form of a pipeline with a capacity of 50 billion cubic meters per year. The capacity of the first operational plant in Siberia is 38 billion cubic meters. There are 10 billion cubic meters of supply contract from the Sakhalin fields,” explained Sergey Vakulenko. . All together making up 98 lots leaving a difference of 73 bcm with pre-war sales in Europe. “It remains a mystery how they will be able to bridge this gap.”, Carnegie analyst. “China does not need to sign a contract now: it can afford the luxury of waiting and negotiating better terms in the meantime.”
Putin did not say what he talked about for more than three hours with Xi. But he chose to devote his press conference to the confrontation with the United States and Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas. He did not respond to a journalist who asked him about the content of the summit, and merely said that it was a fruitful discussion on issues of a confidential nature “over a cup of tea.”
A Kremlin official told the Moscow Times: “Speaking at a forum and meeting with Xi Jinping was a reminder of Putin’s status as a world leader. TV channels have been asked to provide significant coverage of the leader’s trip.” More than 20 journalists from TV, radio, news agencies and websites traveled to follow Putin and described the president’s every gesture in Beijing, underscoring his role at the international level. It was repeated several times that Xi invited Putin into the state lunch first and the red carpet was rolled out for him, “the enthusiasm his speech generated,” as Sergei Lavrov commented, the number of heads of state in attendance who did not have visas, and “the extra tables needed for the exciting Russian delegation.” To admire.” But in terms of results nothing.
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