what Vladimir Putin did in China

On October 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian journalists, to whom he told that the Black Sea would now be patrolled around the clock by MiG-31s ​​with Daggers on board. Kommersant special correspondent Andrey Kolesnikov fears that it is no longer clouds that are gathering, but twilight.

The “One Belt, One Road” forum is attended by 26 state leaders. There was an assumption that after a rocket hit a hospital in the Gaza Strip, Chinese President Xi Jinping would miss someone in the morning, but no one left: the alarm was at night, as it turned out, it was false, and the morning turned out to be wiser than the evening.

The forum was held at the Great Hall of the People of China. The meeting turned out to be a truly popular meeting; several thousand people listened to the presidents and prime ministers, whose task was, as usual, difficult: not to say anything provocatively interesting and new, so as not to give the impression that you are breaking the established rules of the game and want to look more advantageous the rest; at the same time, it is necessary to touch on a wide range of issues so that no one really reproaches that the speech was not comprehensive, and sit down in the confidence that you spoke no worse than people and no worse than yourself two years ago. Yes, and regional topics should be fully represented.

All these requirements, without a doubt, were fully met by the speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as other leaders. The hospital in Gaza was not discussed. Perhaps it seemed out of place here and now.

Thus, the chairman of the PRC succeeded, I think, in the main thing: to tie everyone with one belt and follow one path, so that no one had the need to express their dissenting opinion.

Considering that among those gathered there were people who seemed capable of much, it had to be recognized that the President of the People’s Republic of China held a successful forum in all respects.

Apparently, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who in Soviet times worked at the Soviet embassy in Beijing, felt better than others and was oriented in what was happening (a young embassy employee was assigned to the journalists, who is proud that he sits in the office where The current president of Kazakhstan spent unforgettable years). Mr. Tokayev began his speech in Chinese and, obviously, could continue.

The forum ended much faster than it began. That is, no one, it seems, even expected that everything was already done. A human wave poured out from the long staircase of the Great Hall of the People. This avalanche seemed to sweep away everything in its path. Yes, but not so. Snares and nets were placed below in the form of television journalists with their cameras. The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr. Lavrov, dodged them more dexterously than others, I would even say more resourcefully.

– What, they don’t allow passage? — I also managed to ask him.

“They just don’t give it,” Sergei Lavrov explained vaguely.

Russian ministers and heads of large companies, who already the day before, during bilateral negotiations, could not stand the hopelessness of journalistic formulations (Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Reshetnikov, for example, courageously called the question addressed to him stupid, offered to read the materiel, but then took pity and… then answered), now they shuddered all the more at the hypocritical plea “Don’t pass by!” – and they passed.

“Everything will be fine…”, VTB head Andrei Kostin reassured one of the journalists. “Yes?! Can I quote you?!” — the hopeful correspondent jumped up. “No, it’s better not to…” Mr. Kostin shook his head prudently.

All this happened on the way to bilateral negotiations between the Russian and Chinese delegations. Here in the hall were already the head of NOVATEK Leonid Mikhelson, the head of the Russian-Chinese Business Council Gennady Timchenko, the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin, the head of Gazprom Alexey Miller, the head of Sberbank German Gref, the head of VEB.RF Igor Shuvalov… Businessmen They were seated at two small tables, away from the negotiation table where the officials were sitting. There was little space, and how cramped they were, and the elite of Russian business looked, although crowded, somehow unconvincing, undignified. However, the very presence in the hall at that moment made up for all the inconveniences.

“Now,” said Mr. Putin, addressing the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, “you just mentioned our goal, our goal – to achieve $200 billion in trade turnover this year. If you look year by year, we analyzed it last night – from today a year ago there is already $200 billion! And according to the calendar plan, this bar will also definitely be surpassed!

So, competing with themselves, they moved from an extended meeting to a narrow one, already one on one, and it, who would doubt it, turned out to be almost endless.

They talked for more than three hours, and the press conference, which was initially planned in the room where journalists had been waiting for bilateral negotiations the day before, was suddenly moved to a picturesque lawn. When we got there, in the sky above it a hawk was fighting with three crows, and everything seemed to be very serious here. The crows were larger and meaner than the hawk, and as a result he managed to escape towards the northern exit of the residence. While the battle continued, it became completely dark, three bright yellow lanterns were lit on the guest house, because of which television and photo correspondents howled in helpless despair. But it was too late: Mr. Putin had already come out to us.

It seemed to me that first of all we should definitely ask what he thinks in connection with the destroyed hospital in Gaza. This question came up third.

“The tragedy that happened there is a terrible event. Well, hundreds of dead, hundreds of wounded,” said the Russian president, “this, of course, is a disaster… In one place, especially in a place of a humanitarian nature… And I really hope that this will be a signal that this conflict is needed as soon as possible hurry up and finish…

Unfortunately, in fact, it can now only really begin.

I then asked Mr. Putin if it was possible to at least assume that every cloud has a silver lining and that the result of the current Arab-Israeli conflict could finally be the creation of the state of Palestine. Mr. Putin finally seemed interested in the idea.

But with real passion he commented on the American supply of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine.

“This is fundamentally incapable of changing the situation on the contact line at all!” – he explained. – Impossible! This can be said for sure. And as a result: this is another mistake on the part of the United States! And for several reasons at once. Firstly, if they had not supplied weapons, they could have said in the future: well, if we had supplied everything we could, then the situation would have changed, we are so great, we didn’t do this,” Mr. Putin prompted American colleagues, and it was clear that no, they could not take advantage of such a hint, simply because if they had not supplied weapons, the first thing they would have been accused of was failure or, say, complete failure. – But they did it! But there will be no result! That’s why it’s a mistake. And finally, there is nothing good for Ukraine in this sense either! This simply prolongs the agony (Ukraine doesn’t seem to think so, at least not yet.— A.K.). So they launched the long-awaited and long-awaited next counter-offensive, now in the Kherson direction. No results yet! There are losses. There is no result!

Then everything was much more menacing.

— Here they are (the Americans.— A.K.) took and dragged two aircraft carrier groups into the Mediterranean Sea. I want to say that this is not a threat – what I will say now and what I will inform you about (there is no longer any doubt about what it really is.— A.K.). But on my instructions, the Russian military space forces begin patrolling on a permanent basis in the neutral zone of airspace over the Black Sea. And our MiG-31 aircraft are armed with Kinzhal systems. They are known to have a range of over a thousand kilometers at a speed of Mach 9.

All motives are indicated, moves seem to have been made, and the moral is clear – this is another round of harsh escalation. This is an increasingly fragile world (meaning “planet”).

Speaking about the possibility of negotiations with Ukraine, Vladimir Putin even seemed cheerful. Negotiations, in his opinion, are now more realistic than before:

— There’s Mr. Borrell (EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell.— “Kommersant”) already talks about this. I will praise you for this! But this is not enough. You need to do something concrete if you really want to reach an agreement.

In reality, of course, there is no certainty.

Then Vladimir Putin latched on to the words of a Russia Today (RT) correspondent about the fact that the American president (Joseph Biden.— “Kommersant”) said that Russia lost the war.

— If Russia lost the war, then why supply ATACMS? – Mr. Putin did not let him finish. “Let him take back the ATACMS and all the other weapons, sit down for pancakes, come to us (defeated.— A.K.) for tea party. If the war is lost, what should we talk about? Ask him this question! Well funny!

The poor RT correspondent, who seemed to want to ask about something completely different, of course, didn’t have time to say anything more. However, he even looked satisfied.

Yes, this time everything was somehow tough.

And the twilight finally thickened.

Andrey Kolesnikov, Beijing