Important: Putin - Xi 95 Minute Phone Call

This is very important. Obviously Putin and Xi are coordinating their approach to the new Trump regime. We’ll get to the 95 minute phone call, but first, a closely related matter.

Andrew Korybko suggests (Will Trump Succeed In Overcoming 'The Deep State': Putin's Senior Aide Patrushev) that the Kremlin—via top Putin adviser Patrushev, whose public statements we’ve discussed already 5x—is sending signals to reassure Beijing that Russia will not come to any separate peace with the Anglo-Zionists that would leave China out on a limb by itself. It’s an interesting article. I would argue that Russia also has sought assurances that China will not advance Ukraine proposals that aren’t in accord with Russia goals.

So, with that said, RT has a fairly in depth article regarding the Putin - Xi phone call. 95 minutes would not have been wasted on pleasantries, and the RT report assures that such was the case—matters of enormous geopolitical importance were discussed.

Kremlin reveals what Putin and Xi discussed

The Russian and Chinese leaders talked about Moscow’s potential engagement with the US in light of Donald Trump’s second term

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday discussed the Ukraine conflict, Western sanctions, and Moscow’s potential engagement with the US in light of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the Kremlin has revealed.

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During the video call, the Russian leader reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to negotiate with Washington in order to end the Ukraine conflict, according to Ushakov.

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On Sunday, CNN reported that Trump’s team was allegedly planning for a phone call with Moscow, which, the network’s sources claimed, could take place shortly after the inauguration. US media outlets have recently reported that Trump’s team is mulling a peace plan for Ukraine which could include a ceasefire along the current front lines and the creation of an 800-mile (1,300-kilometer) demilitarized zone patrolled by European troops.

Putin on Monday welcomed Trump’s statements about wanting to restore relations with Russia and prevent the proxy conflict over Ukraine from developing into a world war.

The Russian presidential aide also told reporters on Tuesday that Moscow has not been contacted by the White House on the issue of scheduling a phone call between the countries’ leaders.

Xi, in turn, provided Putin with details of his recent conversation with Trump which took place on January 17 and was unrelated to the incoming president’s inauguration.

Moscow and Beijing also discussed the steady growth of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries despite the unprecedented Western sanctions.

“The heads of state stressed the need to further improve transport interconnectivity, modernize border infrastructure, checkpoints, and increase cargo traffic between our countries,” including within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Ushakov noted.

Putin and Xi also talked about joint energy projects, including the Far Eastern pipeline route, which they said is progressing as planned. Moscow and Beijing signed an agreement for additional Russian pipeline gas deliveries from the shelf off Sakhalin Island to China in February 2023. Energy supplies via the pipeline are scheduled to start in 2027.

Work on other joint initiatives, such as the Power of Siberia 2 mega pipeline, and the construction of power units at two Chinese nuclear power plants, is also underway, Ushakov said.

Two points.

Putin told Xi that he’s ready to negotiate with “Washington.” I take that as being opposed to negotiating with “Kiev.” Russia’s position has always been that the only way for any comprehensive peace deal to come about is for Russia and America to work it out. Indeed, Russian foreign minister Lavrov very recently and explicitly excluded any other European nations—such as “London” and “Paris”—as potential negotiating partners. On the other hand, the Chinese have always been eager to see and end to any global war—make business, not war, is the Chinese ideal. At the same time they fully understand the threat that America poses to China. This is where Patrushev’s latest interview becomes very important as it bears upon Russia - China relations, including in the all important energy field. This quote will show why the 95 minute call was called for:

Patrushev assessed that one of Trump’s top foreign policy priorities is to ramp up pressure on China, including by artificially exacerbating bilateral tensions.

He then reminded everyone that “For us, China has been and remains a most important partner, with whom we have relations of especially privileged strategic cooperation. These relations are not subject to the situation, they remain regardless of who occupies the Oval Office.” This can be interpreted as signaling that Russia won’t backstab China.

In other words, Trump’s declared goal of “un-uniting” those two will fail, thus meaning that no worsening of their relations will occur. This shouldn’t be misunderstood as suggesting that Russia will go out of its way to help China at the expense of provoking the US’ wrath, however, seeing as how China hasn’t done that for Russia. After all, the Chinese-based BRICS Bank and SCO comply with US sanctions against Russia as do some of its local banks, all of which is proven in the preceding hyperlinked analyses.

A Chinese company also pulled out of Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 megaproject under sanctions duress too while private drone companies sell their wares to Ukraine. At the same time, Russia continues arming China’s Indian rival to the teeth despite their nascent rapprochement, and it also authorized the shipment of jointly Indian produced BrahMos supersonic missiles to the Philippines a year ago. Accordingly, while Sino-Russo ties will remain strong, some differences will nevertheless still exist.

The second point is simply that the Trump “peace” proposal is one that has been explicitly rejected by the Russians on multiple occasions. Accepting Trump’s proposal would be tantamount to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.