that putin has launched has gone catastrophically wrong.— catastrophically wrong. how can president putin _ catastrophically wrong. how can president putin depend - catastrophically wrong. how can president putin depend on i catastrophically wrong. how can i president putin depend on china? we have seen some sort of economic examples in all of this, but what is it that russia needs from beijing at this point in time? it that russia needs from bei'ing at this point in time?i this point in time? after the 24th of february. _ this point in time? after the 24th of february. it — this point in time? after the 24th of february, it needs _ this point in time? after the 24th of february, it needs a _ this point in time? after the 24th of february, it needs a whole i this point in time? after the 24th of february, it needs a whole lot| of february, it needs a whole lot more. the relationship between beijing and moscow has been steadily improving for three decades. i think that's the first important point. this is not a new phenomenon. as china's power, militarily, economically, has grown, the distance between russia and china has grown too, so we saw after the annexation of crimea in 2014 that beijing really stepped in after international sanctions began to bite to extend a lifeline to moscow, in an important way, through purchases of russian energy, so the question now is, how much of a hand is beijing going to extend to putin? and as we've seen with the extraordinary array of international sanctions that have come to bear