Russia wins China’s backing in NATO showdown over Ukraine

Russia received China’s backing in its showdown with the West over Ukraine on Friday, as Beijing agreed with Moscow that the US-led NATO navy alliance mustn’t admit new members.

The demand for NATO to cease increasing got here after a gathering between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing that noticed Putin hail the 2 nations’ “dignified relationship”.In an extended technique doc, Moscow and Beijing hit out at what they mentioned was Washington’s destabilising position in international safety.READ: US introduced ‘pure Nazis’ to energy in Ukraine: Russia at UN”The parties oppose the further expansion of NATO and call on the North Atlantic Alliance to abandon the ideological approaches of the Cold War era,” the doc learn, urging respect for the “sovereignty, security and interests of other countries.”The name echoes calls for from Russia which were on the centre of weeks of intensive negotiations between Moscow and the West, below the shadow of a possible battle.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hit again on the Russo-Chinese claims.”This is fundamentally not about NATO expansion. This is about respecting the right of every sovereign nation to choose their own path,” he advised MSNBC’s Morning Joe.Western capitals have accused Russia of amassing some 100,000 troops on the borders of pro-Western Ukraine in preparation for an invasion and have vowed to impose devastating sanctions on Moscow if it assaults.The doc launched by Beijing and Moscow on Friday additionally set out criticisms of Washington’s “negative impact on peace and stability” within the Asia-Pacific area.Russia and China additionally mentioned they have been “seriously concerned” by the AUKUS defence alliance together with Australia, the UK and the United States.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was the newest European chief to announce a go to to the area on Friday, saying he would go to Ukraine on February 14 and Russia the subsequent day.’Delusional’ false flag claims’French President Emmanuel Macron will go to Moscow on Monday and Kyiv on Tuesday for talks along with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.Putin’s assembly with Xi — hours forward of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games — got here after the United States mentioned it had proof of a plan by Moscow to movie a faux Ukrainian assault on Russians to justify an assault on its neighbour.Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby mentioned the US had “information that the Russians are likely to want to fabricate a pretext for an invasion”, however didn’t present proof.ALSO READ: Russia engages New Delhi to abstain hours earlier than vote on Ukraine at UNSCRussia, which has repeatedly denied any invasion plans, mentioned the US claims have been absurd.”The delusional nature of such fabrications — and there are more and more of them every day — is obvious,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov mentioned.Washington’s declare got here on the again of visits from European leaders to shore up their backing for Kyiv, together with from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Friday welcomed the shows of help, saying they’d prevented Russia from “further aggravating the security situation”.’Intimidation technique'”Our partners believe in Ukraine and that means Moscow’s intimidation strategy is not working. Russia has lost this round,” Kuleba mentioned.During Erdogan’s go to on Thursday, he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an settlement increasing the manufacturing of components in Ukraine for a Turkish fight drone whose sale to Kyiv has angered Moscow.Erdogan has tried to place Turkey, which is a member of NATO, as a impartial mediator near each Moscow and Kyiv.Following his journey, Erdogan accused the West of creating the disaster “worse”.”Unfortunately, the West until now has not made any contribution to resolving this issue,” he mentioned in feedback revealed by native media Friday.”They are only making things worse,” Erdogan mentioned, including that Joe Biden “has not yet been able to demonstrate a positive approach”.Russia’s relationship with the West was severely broken in 2014 when it annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and threw its political weight behind armed separatists within the east the nation.Nearly eight years of combating between Kyiv and the pro-Moscow fighters has value greater than 13,000 lives and seen the West and Russia alternate waves of tit-for-tat sanctions.In the latest diplomatic flare-up, Putin has demanded ensures that Ukraine won’t be part of NATO and has implicitly threatened the previous Soviet state with the large navy build-up.Russia additionally needs NATO and the United States to foreswear the deployment of missile methods close to Russia’s borders and to drag again NATO forces in jap Europe.These tensions have been aggravated by plans for joint navy workouts between Russia and neighbouring Belarus, the place Washington claims Moscow is making ready to ship 30,000 troops.ALSO READ: Ukraine disaster: The world based on Vladimir PutinALSO READ: US urges China to make use of affect with Moscow to defuse Ukraine tensions