War end will be decided on battlefield, not during Xi's talks with Putin – Piontkovsky

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"One of my articles 10 years ago was titled "Putin heads the liquidation commission for the surrender of Russia to China.” Beijing will do everything to keep Putin in power. As for Putin's requests for weapons, it is a futile exercise to make predictions. I am convinced that Beijing will not do so. American allies clearly emphasize what the consequences for Beijing will be. The Chinese and American economies are very closely linked. Severing economic ties will hurt American consumers, but it will also destroy the Chinese economy, which has been parasitizing on borrowing and outright stealing American technology for decades, having a huge market for its goods because of the benefits of cheap Chinese labor," Piontkovsky said.

Andrey Piontkovsky emphasized that the outcome of the war will be decided on the battlefield, not during Xi's talks with Putin.

"China will try to ensure a soft defeat for Russia. Now we see that all sides are preparing for a decisive battle. For the spring Ukrainian counteroffensive, which was developed during the military staff exercises of the American and Ukrainian servicemen in Wiesbaden. The issue of supplying modern weapons has been practically resolved. It's not ideal for Ukraine, as we had hoped, but today MiG-29 fighters have been delivered. They have been prepared for several months and have been re-equipped to carry American missiles. The range of HIMARS has been doubled. They still do not reach the southern tip of Crimea, but the issue has already been resolved with ATACMS," Piontkovsky emphasized.

• Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Moscow on March 20 to 22. He was invited to the talks by Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

• Washington-based political analyst Andrey Piontkovsky believes that China is trying to ensure Russia's so-called soft defeat.