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HANDOUT - Chinese President Xi Jinping (l) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: Alexei Nikolsky/Photo host agency RIA Novosti via AP/dpa/Archive
Keystone
During his four-day trip to China, Russia's Vladimir Putin says he once again wants to promote the development of a multipolar world order. His meeting with China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin should lead to an "additional powerful dynamic" in the creation of this world order, Putin said in a written interview published by the Kremlin for the state news agency Xinhua. The words Ukraine and the USA or the Russian war of aggression do not appear at all in the very long interview.
Putin had repeatedly spoken out in favor of ending the dominance of the USA. In the interview, he once again made it clear that he was also interested in weakening the dollar. Russia and China, for example, have almost completely converted their trade to their national currencies.
He also sees the strengthening of the Global South, with the Brics group of countries at the forefront, as an essential part of a new world order. Brics stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but the group now includes more countries. According to the Kremlin, Putin is planning talks in China with numerous heads of state and government, including from India, Turkey, Iran, Serbia and Pakistan.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, it is set to be the largest summit since the SCO was founded. China, the current SCO chair, is expecting representatives from 20 countries and 10 organizations. The SCO was founded 24 years ago as an organization for the fight against terrorism and economic cooperation. It now has ten member states - in addition to the founding countries Russia, China and Kazakhstan, India, Pakistan, Iran since 2023 and Belarus since 2024.
Putin wants to further expand trade with China
As he made clear, Putin's main aim in China is to strengthen relations with Russia's most important trading partner. China is Russia's most important buyer of oil and gas. Russia also uses these revenues to finance its war against Ukraine and also benefits from Chinese goods, which are important for the production of weapons.
The Kremlin is calling Putin's visit to China unprecedented in terms of length and scope of meetings and topics. Commentators in Moscow see the trip as new proof of Russia's clear renunciation of the West and of its "boundless friendship" with China. Moscow and Beijing have also shown that the USA will not succeed in driving a wedge between the two neighbors, they say. Putin will also be Xi's most important guest at a military parade in Beijing on September 3.
30.08.2025, 15:07
