Greeting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Kremlin on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his support for Beijing’s peace initiative to end Russia’s conflict with Ukraine while also demonstrating to Western leaders the breadth of what they refer to as their “limitless” relationship.
Putin declared that he respected the Beijing peace plan. The proposal, however, does meet one of the main demands of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, namely that Russia withdraw from Ukraine and respect its internationally recognized borders, including the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow illegally annexed in 2014 and the eastern Ukrainian regions Russian forces invaded in February of last year. However, it has little chance of being implemented as proposed.
The Chinese leader’s three-day visit to Moscow gives both Xi and Putin a public show of partnership in opposing what both see as American domination of global affairs. Their growing alliance also facilitates economic deals, such as shipment of Russian oil and natural gas to China at a time when the U.S. and its Western allies have imposed widespread sanctions to curb Russia’s foreign business transactions in retaliation for its Ukraine invasion.
Xi and Putin meet in Moscowpic.twitter.com/H0TLbBAHlI
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 20, 2023
In opening remarks before their closed-door talks, Putin said Russia was “slightly envious” of China’s rapid development in recent decades that have boosted it to become the world’s second largest economy behind the U.S.
According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Putin will likely provide Xi with a “detailed explanation” of Moscow’s actions in Ukraine during dinner on Monday.
Officials from both countries will participate in larger discussions on a variety of topics planned for Tuesday, according to the spokesman.
Putin called Xi’s tour a “landmark event” that “reaffirms the special nature of the Russia-China partnership” in a Chinese People’s Daily article prior to the visit.
The Russian president emphasized that the meeting was a signal to Washington that his country and China aren’t willing to tolerate efforts to weaken them.
“The U.S. policy of simultaneously deterring Russia and China, as well as all those who do not submit to the American diktat,” he wrote.
Only a few days prior to the Chinese leader’s visit to Moscow, Putin was accused by the International Criminal Court in The Hague of illegally transporting thousands of minors from Ukraine to Russia. The accusations have been disregarded by Russia as “null and void.”
What China hoped to achieve from Xi’s visit was unclear at first. Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the foreign ministry in Beijing, described Xi’s travel as a “journey of friendship, cooperation, and peace.”
John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, told VOA on Friday that “both China and Russia have been improving and expanding their relationship in many various ways. We are worried that President Xi hasn’t spoken to [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and we think it’s crucial for him to do that as well so that he can understand this war from President Zelenskyy’s viewpoint as well.
Regarding the peace plan put forth by Beijing, Kirby added, “We’d be worried if there was some sort of call for a cease-fire coming out of this meeting, because right now, while a cease-fire sounds good, it actually ratifies Russia’s wins on the ground. In fact, a cease-fire that effectively declares an end to the fighting now without acknowledging Russia’s illegitimate presence in Ukraine suits Russia’s interests.
Paris Huang of VOA’s Mandarin program and White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara both contributed to this story. The Associated Press, CWEB and Reuters provided some information for this story.
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