Vladimir Putin’s “no limits” partnership with China’s Xi Jinping appears to have some limits after all — limits of trust.
According to an internal planning document from Russia’s Federal Security Service leaked to The New York Times, a quiet espionage war has been simmering between Moscow and Beijing.
Russia suspects that China is trying to recruit disaffected Russian scientists to procure sensitive military technology, is carrying out espionage in the Arctic using mining firms and academics as cover, is spying on the Russian military’s operations in Ukraine, and is even laying the groundwork to make claims on Russian territory.
So is the Sino-Russian axis of autocracies hitting the skids? Or, is this all just a smokescreen? On The Power Vertical Podcast this week, host Brian Whitmore speaks with Jeff Mankoff, a Distinguished Research Fellow at National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies and author of the must-read book Empires of Eurasia: How Imperial Legacies Shape International Security.
[Jeff Mankoff’s views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of NDU or the U.S. Department of Defense.]
Enjoy…
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SHOW NOTES
The articles in The New York Times about the leaked Russian intelligence file on China can be accessed here and here. The article about how The New York Times obtained the file can be accessed here.
Jeff Mankoff’s book, Empires of Eurasia: How Imperial Legacies Shape International Security, can be purchased here. His other published works can be accessed here and here.
The Power Vertical Newsletter on Substack can be accessed here. Recently published work by Brian Whitmore can be accessed here, here, here, and here. Please follow Brian Whitmore and The Power Vertical on Bluesky@powervertical.bsky.social