The announcement, made on Saturday, marks the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union that Russia has announced that it will stockpile tactical nuclear weapons on foreign soil, he wrote. inside.
McFaul noted the timing of the announcement, saying it came just days after Russia and China issued a joint statement saying they opposed countries deploying nuclear weapons abroad.
He does not respect his good friend Hsieh!
– tweeted McFaul, who is currently a professor of political science at Stanford University.
McFaul said the announcement is particularly upsetting to Beijing because Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko recently paid an official visit to China.
Putin and Lukashenka both insulted Xi. Remember, Lukenka has just been welcomed in China. Xi recently arrived in Moscow. I can’t imagine this decision will go over well in Beijing
he tweeted.
In November last year, Xi made it clear to Russia that the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would be a red line – he writes Politico.
The balance of power is tilted in favor of China
China provided a lifeline to the Russian economy under punitive sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine and refrained from condemning the Russian invasion, providing crucial diplomatic support to the Kremlin.
At last week’s summit, Putin and Xi represented a common front against the “global power” of the United States and its allies.
But analysts told Insider that the summit indicated that the balance of power between Russia and China had tilted in China’s favour, and that Xi had gained lucrative access to the Russian economy while offering a little extra boost.
Last week, Xi showed his advantage by inviting Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to the first-ever China-Central Asia summit.
All of these countries are former members of the Soviet Union and have long been considered part of Russia’s sphere of influence.
(Cover photo: Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin on March 21, 2023 in Moscow. Photo: Sputnik/Pavel Birkin/Kremlin/Reuters)
