Ukraine in Arabic | Ukrainian sanctions force Moscow to turn East
Ukraine in Arabic/ Russia has signed a series of deals with China to ease the effects of sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. The Russia-China agreements are seen as evidence of Moscow's efforts to focus on the East. Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the deals to avoid total isolation.
Although the two nations compete for influence across Asia, the Kremlin’s pivot away from the West this year has forced them closer together, on terms that analysts say strongly favor China.
Beijing is emerging as one of the principal beneficiaries of the confrontation between Russia and the West. The fallout from the war in eastern Ukraine has strengthened China’s negotiating position with Moscow and broken down Russian resistance to granting it privileged access to raw materials and cutting-edge military hardware. Yesterday a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang signed 38 deals in Moscow, the latest fruits of an economic partnership that complements the frequent political alignment between the two countries.
In May, two months after the first Western sanctions on Russia were introduced, President Vladimir Putin brought more than a decade of haggling to an end and sealed a $460 billion, 30-year gas-supply deal during a summit in China. The fine print of the contract was not revealed, but the timing suited Bejiing much more than Moscow.
During the northern summer, reports began to surface that a deal to sell the new Su-35 combat aircraft to China had been revived. The talks had been delayed amid Russian defense industry concerns that China often reverse-engineers such acquisitions to produce its own copies. Moscow has long been reluctant to share its best hardware with a neighbor that has four times its economic power and 10 times the population.
This contract could be signed imminently, according to Vasily Kashin, a China expert at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow. China is also preparing to sign a deal to buy Russia’s S-400 missile system and possibly its newest submarine, the Amur-1650, he added.
Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Moscow-based Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, which advises the government, said Mr. Putin could find himself becoming overly dependent on China’s wealth and diplomatic clout.
“It’s one thing to shift to China when it’s just one of several options, but quite another when you have to rely on the Chinese for political reasons,” he said. “There’s a risk that Russia will end up under China’s sway.”
One indication of the importance that Mr. Putin attaches to his relationship with China is that he has put one of his most trusted confidantes, the billionaire Gennady Timchenko, at the head of the Russia-China Business Council. He was appointed on April 29, the day after more than a dozen companies linked to him were blacklisted by the US.
Earlier this year Russia lifted some restrictions on which areas of its economy the Chinese could invest in.
Yesterday’s 38 signed agreements included a currency swap worth 150 billion yuan ($28bn) over three years, which ensures that neither suffer from a fall in their own currency.
The agreements also included a tax treaty and deals on satellite navigation and high-speed rail co-operation, as well as financing deals between China and sanctions-hit Russian banks.
