Moscow does not believe it can win the war in Ukraine without China’s economic aid, a source close to the Kremlin told the Financial Times, lamenting that Russia will become a “colony” of Beijing.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said leaders in Moscow were confident they could count on China’s continued support because of the vast amount of natural resources Russia has at its disposal.

In addition, one of the topics discussed on Tuesday at an extended meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping with delegations from the two countries was the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, which will provide Russia with a new route to redirect its exports. before the start of the war, they went to Europe from Ukraine.

“The logic of events dictates that we will completely become a Chinese colony for resources,” a Russian source told the FT.

“Our servers will be from Huawei. We will be China’s main supplier for everything. They will receive gas from “Power of Siberia”. By the end of 2023, the yuan will become our main currency in trade relations,” she added.

Western sanctions left Russia with a budget deficit of 2.58 trillion rubles ($34.19 billion) in the first two months of this year as it must continue to finance its military effort and cannot rely on loans from international lending institutions.

How Russia became dependent on China

Last year, Chinese imports of Russian energy carriers rose impressively from $52.8 billion to $81.3 billion. Russian exports of energy resources bring 40% of the income of the Moscow treasury.

According to customs data, Russia has become the largest supplier of crude oil and coal to China since 2022, and in January this year overtook Qatar, Turkmenistan and Australia to become the largest natural gas supplier to Beijing.

Officials in Washington are worried that Russia may ask China for weapons for its military operations. There are already signs that some Chinese-made equipment has reached the Russian armed forces.

But the United States does not seem to believe that the “sweet friendship” claimed by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping has anything behind it other than China’s interest in countering American influence internationally.

In addition, China tried to undermine Russian influence in Moscow’s “backyard”, in Central Asia, even during Xi’s visit to Moscow, which would otherwise have caused a strong negative reaction from the Kremlin.

“I would say it’s something like a marriage of convenience rather than a marriage of convenience,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, said on Monday.

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