Moscow cool to Beijing’s ‘peace proposal’
Russian narrative casts war as existential contest for the future, sees no giveback of seized Ukrainian territory
A Kremlin official says conditions for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine are not in place "at the moment" following a bid by China last week to outline a framework for ending the deadly conflict.
"We paid a lot of attention to our Chinese friends' plan," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, according to The Moscow Times. “For now, we don't see any of the conditions that are needed to bring this whole story towards peace."
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi had met in Moscow last week with President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials to discuss the situation in Ukraine. The Chinese have offered a 12-point proposal for reaching a ceasefire.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday thanked Chinese officials for their efforts but said that any settlement of the conflict must recognize Russia's control over annexed Ukrainian territory.
“We welcome China’s interest in playing a positive role in the settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, calling Beijing’s proposal “invariably balanced.”
“Wang Yi and his colleagues have repeatedly indicated that the current conflict is largely the result of the long-term policy of the collective West,” she said.
Beijing’s positioning as a potential peace broker reflects a degree of caution about the war, which has not been successful for Russia. Simultaneously, Beijing does not want to see Russia suffer a strategic military defeat that could trigger a collapse of the Russian federation, analysts say.
‘Putin’s obsessed’: Analyst
“In reality, China is skeptical about its ability to be helpful on the negotiation front,” Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told the Wall Street Journal. “They understand that Putin is obsessed with this war. Putin believes still that he can win this war militarily, and unless there is bigger clarity on the battlefield, there is not that much to talk about.”
In Moscow, Kremlin officials continue to describe the war as an existential battle for the future of Russia.
“The world has entered an era of pivotal and irreversible change,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in public remarks at a meeting of ministry officials on Monday.
“The configuration of the future international order is being decided at this point in history, and it will determine Russia's place in the democratic, fair and polycentric system which is now taking shape and to which there is no, and may be no alternative.”
US sanctions a factor
China’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that US sanctions on Chinese companies for alleged involvement with Russia were illegal and would be met with countermeasures if not revoked.
"They are typical unilateral sanctions and illegal 'long-arm jurisdiction' and detrimental to Chinese interests. We deplore and reject this move and have made serious demarches to the US side," Mao Ning, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told a press briefing.
The US Treasury Department has designated Spacety China, a small Chinese satellite company, for sanctions for allegedly supplying satellite images of Ukraine used by Russia’s Wagner Group for combat operations in Ukraine.
On the anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion on February 24, the US Defense Department announced a new, $2 billion round of military assistance for Ukraine including rockets, artillery rounds, tactical combat drones, electronic warfare equipment and other military material.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday to announce $1.2 billion in US funding for Ukraine’s government, part of a $10 billion package of civilian support.
US: China discussing military aid to Russia
US officials have warned China not to get involved further in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by providing Moscow with weapons. A report in a German news magazine said last week US intelligence had learned of specific Chinese discussions on transferring kamikaze drone technology to Russia.
Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally who has allowed Russian forces to attack Ukraine from Belarus, is planning to visit Beijing beginning today for meetings with Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping. There are fears Beijing will use trade deals with Belarus to launder weapons transfers to Russia to evade Western economic sanctions, according to the Institute for the Study of War based in Washington, DC.
On Monday in Belarus, anti-government partisans claimed credit for blowing up a Russian military Beriev A-50 aircraft used for airborne early warning and aviation battle space control. The opposition group said two Belarusans used drones to strike the Russian airplane on an airfield near Minsk before escaping the country on February 26.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that the A-50 was conducting reconnaissance of Ukrainian territory and guiding Russian Kinzhal cruise missiles to their targets.