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China will never treat Russian President Vladimir Putin as an equal and will be “ruthless” in any business dealings after crippling sanctions and a protracted invasion left Russia vulnerable, according to a former Russian diplomat.
“Putin could go to China,” former Russian foreign minister Andrey Kozyrev told Fox News Digital. “He goes to China because he is not competitive in other markets, and he sells raw materials to China, but China will never accept him as an equal partner or even as an ally because they don’t need him.”
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Russia and China forged closer ties ahead of the invasion of Ukraine, signing a series of agreements that would potentially give Moscow the opportunity to economically ease any Western sanctions. Such deals included greater access to Russian wheat and a plan to sell 100 million tons of Russian coal to China.
But Kozyrev, who was Russia’s first foreign minister in the post-Soviet era from 1990 to 1996, believes the dynamics have changed dramatically since the start of the Russian invasion: plagued by sanctions and frustratingly slow progress, Russia is now dominated by China. any potential deals that the two countries make in the future.
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“[Putin] even believes that China will save Russia, which is absurd,” Kozyrev reasoned. “China is kind of urging him to go fight with the West because it’s in their interest…because if he loses Western markets – even Japan and many other countries have joined the sanctions – he will crawl to China asking to buy some of their minerals.”
“Of course, if someone offers you something to sell and knows that this is the last source of money for this person, you will ask for huge discounts,” he continued. “The Chinese are good businessmen and ruthless businessmen… in a desperate situation, this is the last partner I would like to deal with.”
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Part of Russia’s difficulties stemmed from its industry: Kozyrev lamented that Russia had not been able to create a significant capacity to produce goods of the same quality as other countries. Analysis by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows that Russian exports are overwhelmingly made up of raw materials such as natural metals, timber, coal and, of course, oil.
“[Russia] can’t make their own world class car… have you ever seen anything made in Russia on the shelf or for sale? Kozyrev said. and so on, while in Russia you can only find weapons or raw materials on the world market.”
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Instead, Russia spends its money on “military adventures” to “prove its status,” lamenting that Russia is a “state in decline” that pursues “only aggressive policies.”