Putin told Xi Jinping he would be at war with Ukraine for at least 5 years, promising victory - mass media

During a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin told him that Russia was allegedly ready to fight Ukraine for another five years. The Kremlin leader tried to convince his Chinese counterpart that Moscow could win.

This was reported by asia.nikkei, citing sources in diplomatic circles in Beijing and Moscow. According to the author of the article, Putin tried to "summarize the situation" in his conversation with Xi, which at that time was far from favorable for Russia.

Thus, the dictator tried to persuade Xi not to change his pro-Russian position and convinced him that a protracted war would be beneficial to both China and Russia.

Journalists note that it is not yet clear whether the Chinese president believed Putin's words. However, they could affect relations between the two countries. In particular, it affected the deployment of a Chinese peacekeeping mission to Europe and the removal of the Chinese Foreign Minister from office.

In addition, Beijing could have revised its state strategy as the protracted war in Ukraine, according to the article, will affect Xi's ambitions and plans during his third term as president of China, including the annexation of Taiwan.

Recently, The New York Times reported that Putin has been using intermediaries over the past few months to make it clear that he is ready to end the war in Ukraine, provided that Russia retains control over the seized Ukrainian territories.

Thus, given Putin's words to Xi Jinping about a "five-year war," reports of his "intentions" to cease fire should not be taken at face value, the newspaper writes.

"Perhaps Putin simply wants to create the illusion that he is moving toward a ceasefire or even peace ahead of Russia's presidential election in March, believing that such an atmosphere will favor him in the polls," the authors say.

However, the newspaper suggests that Xi "harbors a grudge" against Putin because he did not warn him about a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin attended the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in early February 2022 but did not warn Xi about his large-scale plans, which offended the Chinese leader.

The Chinese president, according to the newspaper, was convinced that Russian troops could launch an offensive only in eastern Ukraine.

In view of this, the authors believe, Beijing doubted Putin's words about a "five-year war" and began to think about protecting its own interests. In particular, the country has created its own "peacekeeping mission," which, according to the journalists, showed a slight change in Xi's pro-Russian position and angered Putin.

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