Putin agrees with Xi Jinping on deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus – Sinologist Yefremov

He expressed this opinion on Espreso TV. 

“Putin, after his meeting with Xi Jinping, suddenly announced, together with Lukashenko, his intention to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus. I suspect that this did not come as a surprise to China. And at that four-hour meeting in Moscow, which was reported in the Russian media, this is exactly what was discussed with Beijing. Xi Jinping said that he would abstract and distance himself from this case, that he would not support it publicly,” a member of the board of the Ukrainian Association of Sinologists said. 

Dmytro Yefremov noted that it is very important for Putin to stabilize relations with China and restore the level of trust in bilateral ties.

“It turns out that all the time, while conducting a dialog with China, Putin is constantly setting it up, deceiving it, not telling the whole truth, and so on. This is exactly what happened with the attack on Ukraine, when most likely the Russians told the Chinese about some local operation without giving any details, so Beijing did not object to it. However, it turned out that it was not a local operation, but a full-scale war. And China has to bear all the negative consequences and experience undesirable effects. It's important for Putin not to set up Xi with such unexpected statements anymore, so I think everything was discussed at the meeting when the Chinese leader traveled to Moscow,” Yefremov said.

• On March 20, Chinese leader Xi Jinping had an informal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow which lasted for 4.5 hours.

• On March 25, Vladimir Putin announced that a storage facility for Russian tactical nuclear weapons would be completed in Belarus by July 1.

• On March 27, China's Foreign Ministry emphasized that Beijing does not approve of Russia's intention to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.