During an appearance on Sunday’s “Face the Nation,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) said the turmoil in Russia in the wake of an apparent attempt coup against Russian President Vladimir Putin had to be very concerning for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I want to talk a bit about China here as well, sir,” host Margaret Brennan said. “But let me just button up, what — how would you define the relationship between China and Vladimir Putin right now?
“Right — so, President Xi has got to be very concerned right now because, as you know, he went to Moscow, stood next to Putin and said, you know, ‘We’re together,’ he and Vladimir Puti, are bringing about change that hasn’t happened for 100 years,” Turner replied. “And, of course, that is the march of authoritarianism against democracy that we won in World War Two that they’re now rising up against. But now he’s standing next to a guy who can’t even control his military.”
“Remember, Putin, in his national address, said that these individuals are going to have inevitable punishment,” he added. “And then, in the end, Prigozhin gets a vacation in Belarus, and his troops are now going to sign contracts. It sounds more like paperwork than a KGB agent, than doing inevitable punishment. Xi, in seeing that with Putin, has got to understand that — that Putin’s stature in the world has diminished. That diminishes President Xi. And, certainly as Putin looks weakened, certainly not being able to control his — his military and being a strong nuclear power, President Xi has to be worried about the stability of Russia itself.”
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