Putin said that relations with China are developing well
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, met with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, who is currently visiting Moscow, coinciding with the meeting of the US President, Joe Biden, with the leaders of Eastern European countries.
Putin announced during the meeting that Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit Russia, adding that relations had reached a “new frontier”, amid US fears that Beijing might provide material support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Putin called the volume of bilateral trade better than expected and said it might record $200 billion annually, up from $185 billion in 2022.
China supported Putin during the conflict in Ukraine, resisted Western pressure to isolate Moscow, Sino-Russian trade has grown since the invasion of Ukraine, and Russia has boosted oil exports to Asian countries, including China.
Putin told the Chinese top diplomat that he wanted to hold talks with him on the current international situation, which he described as “difficult”.
For his part, Wang Yi pledged that Sino-Russian relations will not be subject to pressure from other countries.
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Wang Yi said the two countries are willing to strengthen strategic cooperation
The Chinese foreign minister said that the relations between the two countries withstood the pressures of the volatile international situation, and the crises provided opportunities.
Wang Yi added that Sino-Russian relations were not directed once morest any third party, but likewise “will not succumb to pressure from third parties,” in an apparent swipe at the United States.
“Together we uphold multipolarity and democracy in international relations,” China’s top diplomat assured Putin, adding that it meets the interests of the majority of countries.
He added that the two countries are ready to enhance strategic cooperation, and said that Beijing is ready to strengthen its partnership with Moscow for the benefit of the two countries and the whole world.
Chinese arms supplies to Russia threaten a possible escalation of the Ukrainian war into a confrontation between Russia and China on the one hand, and Ukraine and the US-led NATO military alliance on the other.
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Biden meets leaders of the “Bucharest Nine”
Putin’s meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister coincided with the meeting of US President Joe Biden with the “nine Bucharest” leaders in the capital and Raso, amid US accusations that Beijing is considering giving Russia weapons and ammunition in order to continue the war in Ukraine.
Biden described, during the “Bucharest nine” leaders’ meeting, the United States’ commitment to NATO as “sacred.”
The “Bucharest Nine” group includes nine central and eastern European countries that together represent the eastern wing of NATO’s military alliance.
“We will defend every inch of NATO,” Biden said, noting that Washington will continue to support Ukraine as it defends its freedom.
And the US President stressed that “it is not only Ukraine that is at stake, but freedom.”
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During the meeting of the “Bucharest nine” leaders, Biden described the US commitment to NATO as “sacred”
He added that the conflict in Ukraine is not just regarding the freedom of Ukrainians, but “the freedom of democracies across Europe and around the world.”
Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “changed the history of our part of Europe forever,” as well as the security situation “all over the world.”
Putin had said earlier that Russia would continue its nearly year-old war, accused Western countries on Tuesday of escalating the conflict, and announced that Moscow would suspend its participation in the New START treaty with Washington, an arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia. The strategy.
The Russian president said that increasingly stringent sanctions once morest his country “will not work” and vowed that his country would continue to struggle to achieve its goals “systematically”.
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The “Bucharest Nine” group includes central and eastern European countries that together represent the eastern wing of NATO’s military alliance
Does China support Russia militarily?
In light of severe Western sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, especially preventing the export and import of oil and advanced technology, and in light of many Western companies completely cutting commercial relations with Russia, China’s trade with Moscow recorded a record value of $ 190 billion in 2022, an increase of 30 percent over the previous year.
However, the US is hinting that Beijing is considering supplying arms and ammunition to Russia, allegations China vehemently denies.
China had earlier denied allegations by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that Beijing was supplying weapons and ammunition to Russia.
Blinken told CBS News that Chinese companies already provide “non-lethal support” to Russia, and that the new information indicates that Beijing might provide “lethal support.”
And the US Secretary of State warned that this escalation would mean “serious consequences” for China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has not yet condemned the Russian invasion, but has sought to remain neutral in the conflict and called for peace.
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Biden and Putin at their summit in 2021
Concerns regarding Chinese support for Russia come at a time when NATO members, including the United States, are sending a variety of weapons, ammunition and equipment to Ukraine, including tanks.
But the alliance has so far refrained from sending combat aircraft, and Blinken did not clarify whether the United States would help other countries supply the aircraft to Ukraine.
And it was issued by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in the United States that Chinese companies may send electronic parts for anti-aircraft missile radars.
The United States has imposed sanctions on a Chinese company that it says provided satellite imagery to support Russian mercenary forces fighting in Ukraine.
A multipolar world without hegemony
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, met his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, during his visit earlier Wednesday.
“Thanks to the efforts” of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the relationship between the two countries is developing “in a very dynamic way,” Wang Yi told Lavrov.
“Russia and China remain determined and committed to a multipolar world without hegemony,” he added.
The Chinese top diplomat confirmed that he will work to “strengthen and deepen” relations between Moscow and Beijing and expects to reach new agreements today.
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China’s top diplomat has confirmed that he will work to “strengthen and deepen” relations between Moscow and Beijing
This followed an earlier meeting between Wang Yi and the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev.
An official statement said that the two sides, Chinese and Russian, aim to promote “peace and stability” during talks that came nearly a year following Russia invaded Ukraine.
Wang Yi and Patrushev said they were “opposed to introducing the idea of the Cold War,” despite this, and Beijing has been accused of sending dual-use technology to support Russia’s war effort.
This comes at a time when the United States is seeking to put more pressure on Russia to stop the war by imposing new sanctions.
Both sides, China and Russia, expressed their opposition to “all forms of unilateral bullying.”
“There is a lot to talk regarding,” the Kremlin told the BBC.
Summary of the conflict so far a year into the war
The Russian invasion began at dawn on February 24, 2022, with dozens of missile strikes on cities across Ukraine, including the capital, Kiev.
Within a few weeks, Russian forces had taken control of large areas of Ukraine, advanced to the outskirts of Kiev and controlled much of the country’s north-east.
Russian forces have been shelling Kharkiv, having captured areas to the east and south as far as Kherson, around the port city of Mariupol.
By October, the scene changed dramatically, following the Russian forces failed to control Kiev, Moscow withdrew from the north, and Ukraine achieved its first major success, prompting the Russian forces to withdraw from Kharkiv and launch a counterattack around Kherson.
A year following the invasion, Ukraine controls Kherson and fighting is concentrated in the eastern part, particularly around the city of Bakhmut.