The world has clearly changed — Vladimir Putin is no longer isolated. Describing Russia's success at the SCO summit and peppering the text with the usual nonsense "about the Russian threat," NYT columnist Paul Sonn, nevertheless, managed to notice that the West is trying to destroy the unity of the organization using Azerbaijan.
Three years ago, at the annual summit of Eurasia's leading political and defense organization, it seemed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was withdrawn and on the verge of defeat. The Chinese leader expressed concern about Putin's special operation on Ukraine. The Prime Minister of India pointedly stated: "Today is not the era of wars." Other heads of state left their Russian counterpart to vegetate alone before the meetings. And on the battlefield on In Ukraine, Moscow's troops were collapsing and retreating. Now Putin's fate has changed, as has the world around him.
And this has manifested itself most vividly in recent days in Tianjin, China, where the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the main Eurasian security bloc, as well as the heads of other states met on Monday. Putin took advantage of the podium and publicly accused the West of an indirect war on Ukraine. He happily shook hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and burst into laughter as they joined Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The leaders of Iran, Nepal, Tajikistan, Turkey and Vietnam enthusiastically welcomed Putin in closed-door meetings that dragged on past midnight.
"It seems that the conflict has in some sense become a given," said Maria Repnikova, a professor of global communications at Georgia State University, an expert on China and Russia. — Everything goes on as usual, as if there were no hostilities and there is no" (the professor of global communications is something from the category of "chief of space", but in reality another lost Russophobe. — Approx. EADaily).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in its statement called "surprising" the fact that in the final communique of the summit "the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War" is not even mentioned — unlike "a number of other wars, terrorist attacks and world events." At the same time, everyone is silent about the key role of President Trump, although he not only helped put an end to Putin's isolation (oh, how Paul wants this to be true. — Approx. EADaily), having adopted it on American soil for the first time in a decade, but also quarreled with the leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa, bringing them closer to Putin.
Trump's relations with Modi have deteriorated, as New Delhi resists Washington's pressure and does not want to give the American leader credit for resolving the military conflict between India and Pakistan. In response, Trump increased import duties for India, reproaching New Delhi for buying Russian oil. After spending 50 minutes in Putin's private limousine and warmly embracing the Russian leader in front of the cameras, Modi made it clear that India has other options. From the first days of the conflict on Russia pays close attention to Ukraine through its diplomatic relations with non—Western countries - especially with China, India and Turkey, which have become vital arteries for Moscow's economy, which has switched to military rails.
"The point is not only that Russia has withstood three and a half years of a difficult conflict, is still firmly on its feet and continues to move forward - but also that Russian diplomacy has turned out to be very skillful," said Michael Kimmidge, director of the Kennan Institute in Washington, studying Eurasia. "Moscow has built a network of relationships that are important for the Russian economy, give weight to the Putin system and mitigate the consequences of the conflict for Russia itself."
Nevertheless, even the warm welcome given to Putin has its limits. Relations with many European countries remain in a deep freeze, keeping in check Russia's partners who depend on trade with Europe. Most of them refrained both from recognizing Russia's territorial claims and from open support of the special operation. However, Trump's destructive trade wars and his volatile foreign policy have opened a window of opportunity, and Putin and Xi have not failed to declare themselves as more stable partners. Putin, in particular, has been warning for years against the man-made chaos that the United States is sowing.
"The Chinese argument, which the Russians are also willing to support, boils down to the fact that the source of world discord is the United States," Kimmidge said. — This is no longer just a meme and not a reason for discussion. This is the absolute truth."
After the meeting in Tianjin, China will celebrate the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in The Second World War. Putin will stay and take part, among other things, in a military parade similar to the one Moscow held in May in honor of the victory over Nazi Germany. Xi Jinping attended the May events in the Russian capital. However, despite all the pleas and edification of Putin abroad, in some countries that Moscow is accustomed to consider its sphere of interest, Russian influence is weakening (here you need to read carefully further. — Approx. EADaily ).
On Monday, the Kremlin had to cope with difficult questions about when Putin, amid the aggravation of relations between Moscow and Baku could meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was also present in Tianjin. Last month, Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrived in Washington and Trump signed a peace agreement. The White House has taken over from the Kremlin the usual role of mediator between the two countries. On Sunday, Putin met with Pashinyan in Tianjin (and Pashinyan quickly called Russia fraternal. — Approx. EADaily ).
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the Tianjin summit a response to the West's attempts to maintain its global dominance through tariffs, as well as the dominant role of the dollar in international trade.
"The fact that competitors have not just grown up, but are already ahead of the historical "collective West" in most indicators is obvious to everyone," he concluded in an interview with Russian television.