Putin says China’s belt and road plan isn’t a bid to conquer but a ‘desire for cooperation’
- Russian president tells Chinese state broadcaster that the initiative ‘fully coincides’ with Moscow’s vision for regional development
- Putin, who is expected to attend this week’s forum in Beijing, also says there is no coercion under the strategy ‘but opportunities’
“Some people view the Belt and Road Initiative as an attempt by China to conquer others, but that is not what we’ve seen – we see the desire for cooperation,” Putin said in the interview, which aired on Sunday.
“We welcome President Xi’s plan and are willing to work with China to implement the initiative. Our own vision of developing the Eurasian Economic Union, for example, to build the ‘Greater Eurasia’, fully coincides with China’s Belt and Road Initiative.”
The Eurasian Economic Union is a regional integration body made up of post-Soviet states Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
Putin is expected to travel to Beijing to attend the two-day forum – his first trip outside the former Soviet Union since The Hague-based International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest in March for the war crime of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. The Kremlin denies the allegation.