Xi Coined "Elephant-Dragon" For India-China Ties, "Bear" Added Later: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin while discussing Russia-India-China (RIC) ties said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had coined the animal metaphor "dragon and elephant" dance to describe the relations between China and India. He said that the media had added Russia's "bear".

Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum 2025, Putin joked about using a tiger instead for Russia's Far East. "Of course, 'bear' is a symbol of Russia, but we are here - the Far East, and the biggest tiger in the world is the local breed here", referring to the Amur tiger or Siberian tiger.

He mentioned the United States' symbol - a double-headed eagle and taking a jibe said that it looks to the West and the East but, "there is also south, you know".

❗️🐻 🐉 🐘 - Putin Says Bear Only Added on Later, It was Xi Who Dubbed India Ties as Dragon & Elephant

The Russian President said perhaps there should be a tiger 🐅 for Russia's Far East instead. https://t.co/QYNU1J27f1 pic.twitter.com/EEZSvZjscX

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) September 5, 2025

RIC, proposed in 1998 by Russia, aims to foster cooperation among the three powers on global issues, amid efforts to strengthen non-Western alliances like BRICS.

In a social media post today, Trump said that it "looks like we've lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China," before sarcastically wishing all three countries a "prosperous" future.

"Looks like we've lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!" Trump posted on his Truth Social.

Xi hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin earlier in the week.

The comments by Trump show that he has publicly acknowledged the deepening ties between New Delhi, Moscow and Beijing. Moreover, Washington has always considered India as a foil to China's expanding influence.

However, amid Trump's tariffs on India coupled with his criticism of New Delhi's oil trade with Russia, the closeness between the two countries point to a cooling of ties.

The souring of the India relationship comes as US adversaries China, Russia, and North Korea have tightened their ties. On Wednesday, the leaders of the three countries appeared together in public for the first time at an event to mark the end of World War 2.