Pacific Fleet exercises are Russia's attempt to show power it doesn't have – ISW

The Institute for the Study of War reported this. 

On April 14, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the Russian military had put the Pacific Fleet on high alert as part of an announced inspection.

“The Russian Pacific Fleet’s combat readiness checks are likely meant to signal to China that Russia supports Chinese security objectives in the Pacific and that Russia remains an equal military partner that can operate as a Pacific power despite the degradation of Russian military power in Ukraine,” the experts believe. 

It is noted that the Kremlin is sending such a signal to China before the visit of Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu to Moscow on April 16-18. Li is expected to meet with Russian Defense Minister Shoigu to discuss bilateral defense cooperation, as well as regional and global security issues.

On April 14, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said that Beijing would not sell weapons to Russia and would regulate the export of dual-use goods to Russia.

The ISW notes that such statements are part of China's attempts to downplay its support for Russia and demonstrate that there are limits to the 'boundless' partnership claimed by Russia and China.

In addition, according to experts, Putin failed to secure the unrestricted bilateral partnership with China that he probably hoped for when Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Moscow from March 20-22.

The report says that Russia probably intends to use the Pacific Fleet readiness checks to try to deter further Japanese support for Ukraine ahead of the G7 meeting on May 19-21. However, the ISW believes that the Russian military is not in a position to threaten Japan at this time.

• On April 14, it was reported that a Chinese company had purchased copper alloy ingots worth at least USD 7.4 million from an enterprise located in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine.