Senior Chinese, Russian diplomats talk security, Ukraine as war enters third year

Senior diplomats from China and Russia have met in Moscow and discussed the war in Ukraine, according to Russia’s foreign ministry, as the invasion enters its third year.

Sun Weidong, China’s foreign vice-minister, was hosted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Russia’s capital city on Monday, as they “discussed a range of pressing topics, including the Ukrainian crisis and the situation on the Korean peninsula”, according to a Russian statement.

They also agreed to improve coordination in key international organisations, including the Brics countries, a bloc of major emerging economies.

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Russia assumed the presidency of the association at the beginning of this year, and President Vladimir Putin has said that his country would hold a leaders’ summit in Kazan in October.

“A confidential discussion was held on ensuring security in the Eurasian space, as well as in the Asia-Pacific region, given the active attempts by the West to create small-bloc military-political associations in the region,” the readout said, using the term that usually refers to the post-Soviet areas, in particular Russia and Central Asia.

Monday’s meeting came just days after the anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN that Russia was preparing a new offensive against Ukraine, which could begin in early summer.

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The war, which has left hundreds of thousands of dead, has also deepened the political split between Western democracies such as the United States and its major allies in Europe, and Russia and China. Beijing has not condemned Putin and has steadily expanded its “no-limits” strategic partnership with Moscow.

Senior officials of the two countries meet from time to time to discuss bilateral cooperation from trade to military, while Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping met twice – in person – last year alone. The Russian leader is expected to visit China this year, China’s ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in an interview last month.

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Sun, who is in charge of Asian affairs in the Chinese foreign ministry, was in Moscow for a working visit. Last month, Ma Zhaoxu, China’s executive vice-foreign minister, also held talks with Lavrov in Russia and co-chaired consultations between the two foreign ministries.

Facing growing isolation from the West, Russia has also been stepping up engagement with North Korea, which has significantly ramped up its weapons tests in recent months despite years of economic and military sanctions by the United Nations.

Putin, who hosted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Russia’s Far East in September, accepted an invitation from Kim during the trip, and last month the Kremlin said a visit by Putin to North Korea would take place “in the foreseeable future”.

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The White House said in January it had evidence that North Korea had provided ballistic missiles to Russia, and that North Korea was seeking military hardware in return, a claim that Pyongyang and Moscow both denied.

To force Putin to end the war, the European Union last week announced a new round of sanctions, which would blacklist North Korea’s defence minister and, for the first time, ban exports to three mainland Chinese firms, which have been accused of supplying sensitive military technology to Russia.

South China Morning Post