Putin asks Xi for a ticket to the next presidential term

I don't know if this was agreed upon beforehand, but it looks like a sign of weakness. Actually, Putin hasn't formally run yet. If this is a response to an arrest warrant, then it all the more seems like showing a weakness on Putin’s part, because everyone there says that there are "no problems."

I don't understand why Putin allows this, it definitely doesn't make him look like an independent player and shows a clear desire to influence Russian domestic politics. Xi benefits from a weak Putin.

“The "blessing" to run for office may also be a kind of veiled humiliation of Putin in the Chinese style, an attempt to show him where he belongs”

I don't know if this prompt has been agreed with Putin, but the relationship between Xi and Putin is increasingly looking like that of not even older and younger brothers, but rather uncle and nephew. The "blessing" to run for office may also be a kind of veiled humiliation of Putin in the Chinese style, an attempt to show him where he belongs. In any case, the well-known jokes about the yuan as the main Russian currency no longer look like jokes at all.

Source

About the author. Pavlo Klimkin, diplomat, former Foreign Affairs Minister of Ukraine.

The editorial board does not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.