One day before Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing, a Chinese trade ship was hit by a Russian „Shahed" drone in Ukrainian territorial waters. No casualties - but damage, and even greater damage on the diplomatic stage. What happened in the night between 17 and 18 May is a signal that certain failures aren't being counted by the Kremlin, and that Putin will arrive in China with an uncomfortable question in his folders.

The spokesman for the Ukrainian military, Dmytro Pletenchuk, commented on social media with irony. „It's interesting what motivates the Russians when in the night they decide to 'honour' a Chinese trade ship in our sea", he wrote. And added: „It all happened without casualties, but this is something new". You don't need military education to grasp that this is a direct message to Beijing.

For the teams planning the event, this is a diplomatic catastrophe. Putin and Xi are supposed to deepen their „comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation", as the official text reads. That means energy contracts, joint infrastructure projects and probably a new round of financial arrangements bypassing the Western system. And now, in Xi's folders, the question has to appear - who's firing on me?

Russian sources stay silent for now. That's no surprise. Firing on a friendly ship is presented as an error - technical or procedural - and the Kremlin doesn't accept public admissions of mistakes. But the diplomatic weight remains. China isn't a country that easily forgives offended trade ships, regardless of the political friendship.

The question now is - will this incident be an extra leverage point for Xi to keep Putin out of the biggest deals? In recent months already, Chinese banks have been more reserved with Russian credit, Chinese companies have been more openly seeking American approval before trading with Moscow. That's a trend that doesn't suit the Kremlin. And now, two hours before the plane takes off, a hit on a Chinese ship.

For Balkan readers - this is further proof that the Russo-Chinese axis isn't as monolithic as it's portrayed. China has its own interests. Those interests sometimes collide with the Russian ones. And Putin, regardless of ceremonies and joint photographs, is entering Beijing in a weaker position than he was a month ago. The question is whether the Chinese arrangements will survive this overnight drone.