The homework Putin did before negotiating with Xi Jinping in Beijing

1. With military leaders and defense industry officials
2. More precise weapons and reducing the number of casualties

All-Russian President Vladimir Putin, 71, inaugurated his fifth presidential term with a state visit to China by Xi Jinping, its greatest political, economic, commercial, financial and military ally.

After being sworn in at the Kremlin on May 7, eight days later, in the middle of the afternoon of May 15, he left by plane for a 48-hour official stay in Beijing and the very important industrial and technological city of Harbin. , in the Manchuria region.

The meeting in Beijing between the two leaders and their official delegations is part of events commemorating the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations, which served to strengthen their strategic partnership and sign a new set of agreements. In a commercial and military priority manner, to alleviate the suffocation suffered by the Russian economy and defense industry, despite the fact that “bilateral trade amounted to $240.1 billion in 2023”, according to the Chinese State Council.

Before flying aboard his brand-new and exclusive Ilyushin Il-96 large presidential quadjet, equipped with a command post with encrypted communications and laser systems to deflect missile attacks, Putin hurried along with those who know perfectly understand the weaknesses, threats, opportunities and, above all, Russia's strength: its enormous oil and gas capabilities. So when the luxurious Russian-made Aurus Senat limousine crossed the threshold of the Kremlin on its way to the airport, the re-elected tsar had already done his homework.

What duties? Well, the most important for a head of state engaged in a war of occupation and attrition against Ukraine, which has lasted for more than two years and requires that the national effort be concentrated on the production of enormous weapons and ammunition systems. Thus, at the beginning of the afternoon of May 15, before taking off from Moscow for Beijing, Putin met the heads of the two major collectives which are essential to him in order to achieve an advantageous ceasefire in front of kyiv.

With military leaders and defense industry officials

On the one hand, with the highest military commanders, in an audience to learn first-hand their analyzes of the military situation in Ukraine, its foreseeable evolution in the short term and the most urgent needs of its troops to emerge victorious from the conflict. Then he had a meeting with the main hierarchs of the military-industrial complex, to hear from their lips the demands on which to insist in front of Xi Jinping so that China continues to directly or indirectly feed the Russian economy and war machine .

According to a Kremlin press release dated May 15, What Putin, as supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian armed forces, wanted to make clear to his seven senior military leaders was that the structure and chain of command that directs combat operations in Ukraine under the leadership of the head of the General Staff, General Valeri Geramisov, is already functioning properly and there will be no more changes.

Putin explained that the new Defense Minister present at the meeting, economist Andrei Belusov, 65, is a politician of absolute trust, who knows very well what he must do to introduce innovation into the military industry. He informed that he was aware of the need to increase investments and spending in defense and security, but without ceasing to promote the country's development process, nor neglecting improvements in the areas of education, health, pensions and support for veterans.

He declared to his military leaders that the new cycle he wants to imprint on the national economy will combine guns and butter. And that those who will pilot it in a coordinated manner are Belusov, the new first vice-president of the government, Denis Manturov, and the outgoing Minister of Defense, General Sergei Shoigu, who has just turned 69 and who was also at meeting. The latter is one of the five who left the previous executive, but remains on the fringes of power as secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.

Shoigu's almost 12 years at the head of the Defense Ministry make him more aware than anyone of the needs of our armed forces, in the words of Putin, who decided to count on him to supervise the functioning of the Military-Commission. presidential industrial. In addition, he placed him at the head of the Federal Service for Foreign Cooperation, in order to guarantee compliance with commitments regarding arms exports, but without leading to a reduction in supplies to the Russian armies.

According to the official press release, Putin reminded his military operational chiefs, including General Gerasimov, that the 2024 defense and security budget is more than 8.7% of GDP. And he made them understand that, although this percentage is lower than the 13 percent that the Soviet Union devoted to the same tasks in the mid-1980s, it is nevertheless a considerable percentage.

More precise weapons and reducing the number of casualties

Before leaving for Beijing, Putin held a second meeting with the seven main leaders of the immense state defense industrial complex: the first vice-president of the government, Denis Manturov, who was thus rewarded for his work in as Minister of Industry and Commerce; its current leader, Anton Alikhanov, who assumes responsibility for the defense industrial fabric; former President of Russia and now Vice President of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev.

Along with the above, incoming and outgoing Defense Ministers Belussov and Shoigu were present; the president's new right-hand man, Lieutenant General of Army Signals Alexei Dyumin, former member of the Federal Intelligence Service or FSB, heir to the KGB and former Deputy Minister of Defense. Dyumin has been tasked by the Kremlin with ensuring that the Russian armed forces have all the means necessary for combat.

The strongman of the high-tech military industry, Sergei Chemezov, could not miss the conclave. He was director of the KGB, personal friend of Vladimir Putin and, since December 2007, general director of the state industrial company Rostec, the giant of Russian military production. Rostec owns more than 500 companies grouped into more than a dozen holdings.

According to Chemezov himself, Rostec supplies the Russian Armed Forces with “80 percent of all weapons systems of its military aviation – fighters, transport aircraft and attack helicopters – combat tanks and armored vehicles, self-propelled, field and anti-aircraft artillery, launchers rockets, electronic warfare. equipment, missiles, ammunition… and even the famous Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Among the things the Kremlin wants to bring out of Putin's meetings with his military and defense industry chiefs is moving ahead in deploying advanced warfighting assets. It aspires to have new weapon systems available as soon as possible, more effective and with greater precision and destructive power. » And also to have new individual and collective protective equipment to “reduce the number of victims, which is the most important in an armed war”. conflict,” he stressed.

To convey this verbally to his Chinese colleague, Putin took note of the enormous requirements for raw materials, machine tools, microelectronics and various supplies that the industrial conglomerate Rostec requires for its manufacturing facilities to be able to double, or even triple, its production . This is the shopping list that Vladimir Putin sent personally and in writing to Xi Jinping, so that China's aid, directly and via North Korea, Iran and other countries, reach the hands of great Russia as quickly as possible.