Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has become more dependent on China than ever. Beijing now appears to be exploiting this weakness.

Maps are great for politics, those in the Kremlin know it well. In the spring, President Vladimir Putin presented himself with a map that didn’t even show Ukraine. The message of the show is clear: a country that does not exist cannot be illegally annexed. According to this logic, Russia’s attack on its neighbors is legitimate. But now Russia itself has become a victim of its border propaganda game.

This week the Chinese government released a series of new maps for use by the country’s media. What’s interesting about the new map is that the country’s northeasternmost point has shifted several kilometers toward Russia. The Bolshoi Ussuriysky Islands on the border of the Amur river are now completely part of China. For the Kremlin, China’s territorial claims formulated in the form of a map are an open provocation.

Russia and China have been fighting over the 350 square kilometer island since the 1860s. In 1929 Soviet troops occupied an island in China called Heixiazi Dao, Black Bear Island. In 1969, a dispute over another island on the Ussuri river border nearly led to war between China and the Soviet Union.

In 2008, Beijing and Moscow finally settled their dispute over the Bolshoi Ussuriysky Island. Both sides dropped their claims to the entire island. Is this agreement no longer valid?

The Russian Foreign Ministry has so far not reacted to China’s new map – unlike the governments of India and Malaysia. Part of their territory also appears on the new map as part of China.

Even the much smaller Malaysia did not embrace the emergence of China’s new map without complaint. The government in Kuala Lumpur spoke of “unilateral claims by China” that are “non-binding” for Malaysia. What is even more surprising is that the Moscow government has so far not said a word about the “land grab” on the Amur River. So is Putin’s silence a sign of weakness?

“In the Kremlin, Chinese maps are obviously being watched closely, especially maps claiming their own territory,” US political scientist Mark Katz told Newsweek magazine. “But even if Putin is angry about this, he is not in a position to complain out loud. The Russian economy is too dependent on China for that.” In fact, due to Western sanctions, Russia now gets most of its industrial goods from China; instead, China gets cheap oil and gas from Russia.

Officially, even after the attack on Ukraine, China remains on Russia’s side, but not unconditionally. For example, China supplies Russia with components for making weapons, such as microchips, but not ready-made armaments.

Chinese Head of State Xi Jinping is said to have made it clear to Putin that Beijing would not accept Russia’s use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. On September 9 and 10, government representatives from the two countries will meet at the G20 Summit in India. Kremlin leader Putin has canceled his participation.