European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen looks on at a press conference.
John Tis | AFP | Getty Images
The president of the European Commission said on Tuesday that increasingly isolated Russia is dependent on China for both military and economic purposes.
Ursula von der Leyen said Russia was falling short of its goals and was becoming increasingly dependent on its eastern allies.
“Russia has not achieved its strategic goals,” von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “This is first and foremost a military failure,” he said, noting that Ukraine had maintained its “freedom and independence” through nearly two years of war with Moscow.
“Russia’s failure is also economic,” she continued, highlighting the impact of sanctions in isolating the country from trade with its Western allies.
“Russia is now dependent on China,” von der Leyen added.
Meanwhile, he added, Ukraine is “closer than ever” to joining the European Union.
Russia’s trade with China surged in response to Western sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Annual bilateral trade between the two countries reached nearly $200 billion last year, which President Xi Jinping hailed as a “historic high.”
This comes amid growing speculation about China’s role in fomenting Russia’s war, with new data last week showing that Chinese companies are key conduits for funneling Western technology to Russia’s military. Suggests.
