On the second day of Russia’s ongoing invasion in Ukraine, ordered by Vladimir Putin a day ago, the Russian President’s Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in a telephone call with him on Friday, called for the issue between the two European neighbours to be resolved through negotiations, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Xi reportedly urged the Russian president to abandon “the Cold War mentality.”
China had previously called for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, but blamed the U.S. for sending weapons to Ukraine and declined to refer to Russia’s actions as an invasion.
Putin told Xi that the United States and NATO had long ignored Russia’s legitimate security concerns, repeatedly reneged on their commitments, and continued to expand military deployment eastward, challenging Russia’s strategic bottom line, according to a statement on the Chinese foreign ministry website.
Russia is willing to conduct high-level negotiations with Ukraine, Putin was cited as saying.
Russian forces have launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, unleashing airstrikes and sending troops deep into the country, after weeks of diplomatic efforts failed to deter Putin from launching the military operation. Beijing has trod a cautious diplomatic line on the crisis and refused to call it an “invasion” or condemn the actions of Russia, its close ally.
(With inputs from agencies)
