Russia has been a third world nation since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Politicians just like to use the Russian boogeyman to scare people who remember the Cold War. Putin may be a monster, but China is the real threat.
I understand your sentiment but as a history major I need to clarify that Russia is literally the Second World Nation. As in, the First, Second, and Third categorization emerged to describe pro-NATO, pro-Warsaw Pact, and unaligned countries.
Edited: aside from Taiwan, Hong Kong, several other nations in the east. My question was more in the context of China as a threat to anything in the western hemisphere. They are the eastern version of the US, no doubt about it.
China is widely suspected of supplying Russia with equipment and materials to support their war, however no-one has adduced anything concrete to support that theory so far.
The article itself doesn't cite much in the way of sources or evidence, other than mentioning a report by Molfar, the open source intelligence agency. Molfar has published reports on the same topic in the past, but there hasn't been anything recently.
If the Telegraph had new information or evidence they would be shouting a lot louder than this. This is most likely them covering up for a quiet day by dredging up some old rumours and repackaging them as news.
Probably not for long given the state of the Rouble and the economy. Tech-wise Russia has nothing to offer and when it comes to the stuff China might be interested in, such as ores and oil, well you'd have to not send miners to the front to continue producing them. That Russia of all countries is importing metals should make you stop and think.
Such goods are classified as dual-use, meaning they also have civilian purposes, allowing China to skirt international sanctions and claim that it conducts only legal trade with Russia
The "international sanctions" btw:
You can't just unilaterally decree someone can't be traded dual use goods
For those interested, the dual use loophole is how the yanks supplied Saddam when he fought Iran and used chemical weapons against the Kurds. A conbination of dual use and swaps through intermediaries. Nowadays the US didn't give as much of a fuck and instead manufactures reasons for why it's okay to ship direct.
Although there is quite a gap between saying metals are dual use, and playing coy about specific chemicals that are most useful as precursors for advanced chemical weapons being dual use
It:s a shame because supplying that gear to Ukraine would have helped China's reputation on the international stage and bolstered trade. It would have not been well received by the Kremlin but a losing army can't invade anyone else.
Would those unspecified metals be of good quality or is there a risk they might be the sub-par stuff that is said to be exported by unscrupulous Chinese companies?
There is no surprise that communist China would and is supplying their northern neighbor.
If anyone is actually surprised about this, then maybe they'll be surprised when I give them an amazing deal of being able to buy the official deed to the Golden Gate Bridge for only $300 and a bag of salt and vinegar crisps. Just constant me at 123-456-7890 for details.