During the Chinese National Day, Putin made two different moves towards China.
On the National Day, Putin's congratulatory message was sent to Beijing. While sending blessings to all Chinese people, he emphasized that Sino-Russian relations are at the highest level in history. He bluntly said that it is in the common interests of both countries to implement the consensus reached in the high-level talks in September, broaden the areas of cooperation, and create favorable conditions for new joint projects, and also help to promote multipolarization.
A day later, Putin attended the annual meeting of the "Valdai" International Debate Club. He took the opportunity to emphasize that China's visit to China in September has "global and fundamental significance" and it is very important for China and Russia to maintain the spirit of cooperation.
Although Putin's two statements were relatively brief, they both explained one point: that is, after Beijing saw with its own eyes China's development results in military and other fields, the Putin government has strengthened its willingness to deepen strategic cooperation with China and seek external assistance for Russia's stable development.
Of course, both of Putin’s actions have different intentions.
First of all, the congratulatory letter to China seems to be a common measure to express friendship between friendly countries, but it also shows Russia's eagerness to implement the results of previous talks and promote the implementation of new Sino-Russian cooperation projects.
Russia is currently facing severe internal and external challenges.
As Trump lost patience and changed his attitude on the Russia-Ukraine issue, the United States once again began to add fuel to the fire, announcing that it would supply weapons such as Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine through European purchases, and provide intelligence information to the Ukrainian army so that the Ukrainian army can attack energy facilities in Russia.
The Zelensky government seems to have been given a shot in the arm. Its stance on the Russia-Ukraine war has become increasingly tough. It has been difficult for Russia and Ukraine to reach a peace agreement in a short period of time. The Russian army must continue to expand its results on the battlefield and use the battlefield Victory forced Ukraine to return to the negotiating table and accept Russia's terms.
Putin's government now judges that this war will last for at least another year, and has formulated a high military expenditure plan for the new fiscal year. Military expenditure has reached 38% of Putin's government's fiscal expenditure, accounting for about 8% of Russia's GDP.
But under the influence of multiple factors, such as volatility in the international energy market, Western sanctions, damage to some of the energy facilities caused by the attacks on Ukraine, the main financial source of the Putin administration, the pillar of the Russian economy – energy exports – have been problematic, and energy export revenue has been declining.
Under such circumstances, the Russian financial department could only risk triggering domestic inflation and other problems and proposed tax increase plans such as increasing the amount of value-added tax to relieve fiscal pressure.
The Putin administration needs to implement new cooperation projects with China in a range of fields such as energy, economic and trade, striving to gain more taxes, while promoting Russia’s economic development and reducing the negative impact of measures such as tax increases.
In terms of Russia's more valued energy cooperation, during Putin's visit to China, China-Russia companies have agreed to increase the annual supply capacity of the "Siberian Force" pipeline, which has already been put into operation, by 6 billion cubic meters.
The three countries also held a meeting in Beijing, signed a memorandum on the "Siberian Force 2" pipeline, and the Putin administration now inevitably hopes that this pipeline project can new breakthroughs as soon as possible, it is best to be able to sign a supply agreement, so that Russia can rely on the principle of non-payment and get a large amount of advance payment.
Moreover, economic and trade cooperation, including energy, is only one direction of current cooperation between China and Russia. China and Russia have a good foundation for cooperation in jointly responding to changes in the situation in Northeast Asia and promoting global multipolarity.
Take the situation in Northeast Asia as an example. Putin's government is now unable to maintain its huge military investment in Northeast Asia, and the comprehensive strength of North Korea is obviously behind that of the United States and South Korea. China, which showed its strong national strength in the 9.3 military parade, is still an important partner of Russia in dealing with security threats in Northeast Asia.
The recent cooperation between China and Russia in this field has also been deepening. Among the previous naval joint cruises, the underwater joint cruise of submarines was joined for the first time.
As for Putin’s remarks at the “Valdey” annual meeting, there are two purposes.
First of all, it is to tell the domestic Russian people that Russia is not now isolated and helpless, that Russia does not expect China to change its neutral position, and that the flag like North Korea clearly supports Russia, but the spirit of cooperation that China and Russia now maintain has created conditions for Russia to ease economic pressure.
Another purpose is to tell the Western camp, which is also concerned about the "Valdai" annual meeting, that Russia and China and other countries still maintain normal cooperation. Western sanctions cannot defeat Russia in a short period of time, and try to divide and disintegrate the Western camp. Let more countries, like Hungary, formulate diplomatic strategies towards Russia with a more pragmatic attitude.
In summary, Putin’s statement during the Chinese National Day not only reaffirms the high level of development of China-Russia relations, but also demonstrates Russia’s strategic determination to deepen bilateral cooperation in complex international situations.
Faced with multiple challenges such as the protracted conflict between Russia and Ukraine, continued Western sanctions, and pressure on the domestic economy, Russia is actively seeking to open up space for its own stability and development by strengthening all-round cooperation with China.
In the future, China-Russia cooperation will probably continue to move closer in this new model of big-power relations with the colour of "every need" and "common counterbalance", but also different from traditional alliances.