Well Putin did refer to Chinese and Russian people as close like brothers in his speech in the Sino-Russo culture year celebration recently.
普京致辞表示，我完全赞同习近平主席关于俄中关系的积极评价。
俄中两国人民亲如兄弟。今年是中华人民共和国成立75周年。俄罗斯人民为中国人民在中国共产党领导下取得的伟大成就感到由衷高兴和钦佩。俄中建交75年来，双方关系积累了很多宝贵经验，当前正处于历史最好时期。俄中关系基于相互尊重、平等互信，促进了各自国家发展，造福了两国人民，树立了国际关系典范。在俄中庆祝建交75周年之际举办“俄中文化年”活动具有重要象征意义。俄方愿同中方深化人文交流，增进彼此了解，推动两国合作不断提质升级。
The last time such reference happened was in the 1950s. The word brother has been used many times to signify the closeness of relationships between countries especially among communist countries around the world. It should not be taken with ethnicity or culture origion and making a doubt because of them. Think about it as another way of saying "iron-clad" or "special relationship".
Back to reality, people change, brothers can break up and kill each other, in that sense ethnicity and culture affliation or even kinship means nothing for brotherhood, isn't it? Just look at Korea and the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. On the other hand strangers can become friend and sworn brothers. It is all up to what people do, where they stand and if they share a common future. Many Russians may not agree with Putin, but his leadership has chosen the path. It is up to today and future Chinese and Russian to cultivate this path. So don't bother what some Russian "elites" do, they are the past, their money have been confesticated by the west, they are being cleansed from Russian society with the help of their Western master. These "elites" are pretty much like the old Tsarist aristocrats who got kicked out of Russia. I think Putin and Russian leadership's moving to the east is no less significant than the Bolshevik revolution that Russia broke out from the European centric power structure. It is only now that China is picking up the mission that USSR has failed, Russian's turn isn't "last resort" but a conituation of a world revolution that they started.
