Xi accused of betraying Putin over phone call to Zelensky on Russian state TV

Vladimir Putin has been betrayed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to the Russian dictator’s closest supporters.

Xi’s phone calls and dealings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in recent days have outraged Putin’s biggest cheerleaders.

Last week, Xi called Zelensky for the first time since the Russian invasion for an hour-long phone call that the Ukrainian president described as “long and meaningful.”

Zelensky has since appointed an ambassador to Beijing and China will send the envoy for European affairs to Kiev.

But the move has upset onlookers in Russia. War analyst Sergei Mardan said on SolovyevLive that Xi’s visit to Moscow last month had undermined the Kremlin.

“What should we think?” he said. “Are we friends or what?!”

On SolovyevLive, he criticized Xi’s phone call with Zelensky to apparently find a diplomatic solution

Mardan said on his show ‘[we had] joy and confidence in the belief that Xi Jinping saw Zelensky as a puppet, certainly will not call him…”

Putin has been betrayed by Xi Jinping, says pro-Putin war analyst Sergei Mardan (pictured)

“And then boom — this,” he told viewers.

China has supported Russia by buying its energywhen in his favour, despite Western sanctions during the war.

Exporting to major buyers such as China has also helped ease Russia’s recession, with fiscal revenues generally rising.

Exports from Russia to China increased 43% year on year in 2022.

But China has avoided sending munitions directly to Russia – much to the anger of onlookers who supported Putin’s campaign.

In recent months, China has pushed for Ukraine-Russia to lead negotiations to de-escalate the violence that has claimed lives more than 350,000.

Russia has not openly opposed this.

In February, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the proposals needed to be “analyzed in detail,” though Russia did not yet see a way out of the war.

But the phone call between Xi and Zelensky was a bridge too far for Putin supporters.

‘How do we take this call? Why did he call our enemy?

“Comrade Xi Jinping, why did you come to Moscow? And spend three days here and interrupt Putin’s work?

“So, as a result of his three-day stay in Moscow, he goes back to his Peking, talks to his advisers for a week – and then decides to call Zelensky.

The blow to Xi comes as Putin’s supporters also feel sad that their closest Chinese ally has failed to send advanced weapons and drones to aid Russia’s beleaguered war effort.

As far back as March last year, US officials reported that Russia was seeking military equipment to support its slow-moving invasion of Ukraine.

China denied claims that Russia requested equipment after it ran out of weapons during the initial invasion.

The SolovyevLive channel is led by Vladimir Solovyov, Putin’s favorite propagandist on state television.

Mardan is a military analyst for the pro-Kremlin Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Putin participates in a video conference call in Saint Petersburg on May 2, 2023

President Zelensky (left) and Xi Jinping (right) spoke last week for the first time since the war

The nearly hour-long discussion between the two leaders, in which Xi reportedly advocated peace negotiations, was met by Russian accusations that Ukraine was undermining efforts to end the fighting.

Zelensky previously said he would be open to talks with his Xi.

The phone call “was initiated by the Ukrainian side,” Yu Jun of China’s foreign ministry told a news conference.

“Regarding the Ukraine crisis, China has always been on the side of peace and its main stance is to promote peace talks,” CCTV said.