Several Chinese officials have blasted Vladimir Putin as ‘crazy’ and claimed Beijing thinks Russia is going to fail in its war in Ukraine and will emerge from the conflict as a ‘minor power’.
The officials Chinese warned Beijing must not ‘simply follow Russia’ in blind support for the war in Ukraine in a rare rebuke of Putin’s barbaric invasion.
The officials said they believe that Russia will fail to win the war in Ukraine – and the impact of such an expensive and deadly conflict will see Moscow emerge as a ‘minor power’ with a diminished economy and a poor standing on the world stage.
The scathing comments from the Chinese officials, with some accusing Putin of being ‘crazy’, mark a significant turning point in the supposedly amicable relations between Russia and China – just a month after the two countries vowed to deepen their bilateral ties.
‘Putin is crazy,’ one Chinese official told the Financial Times. ‘The invasion decision was made by a very small group of people. China shouldn’t simply follow Russia.’
Beijing now believes that it is likely that Russia will fail in its mission to win its war against Ukraine and will emerge from the conflict a ‘minor power’, Chinese officials said.
On the ground in Ukraine, Russia has been suffering a series of setbacks, with hundreds of soldiers killed in the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar amid fierce fighting.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine almost 11 months ago, Xi has stopped short of publicly criticising Putin over the war – but in November he issued a direct warning to the Russian President not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine in his biggest public rebuke yet delivered to the Kremlin.
