China’s envoy in Moscow
Lavrov sees “significant obstacles” to negotiations
May 26, 2023 at 6:39 p.m
In the spring, China presented a vague plan for peace in Ukraine. Beijing later sends an emissary to mediate. According to a media report, however, he is pushing for Ukrainian territory to be ceded. This is later picked up from Moscow. The Kremlin’s chief diplomat renewed the rigid attitude of the attacker.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed skepticism about an end to the fighting in Ukraine during a meeting with the Chinese special envoy for Ukraine, Li Hui. During a talk between the two in Moscow, Lavrov said there were “significant obstacles” to the resumption of peace talks, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin made similar statements during a phone call with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Kremlin said.
Lavrov blamed Ukraine and its western allies for the troubles. Moscow is striving to find a “diplomatic solution to the conflict”. Moscow’s chief diplomat thanked China for its “balanced” stance on the Ukraine crisis and its willingness to play a “positive role in its settlement,” it said.
As the “Wall Street Journal” wrote, citing an unnamed diplomat, Li Hui is said to have called on Europe to “cede” to Russia the occupied areas in eastern Ukraine and to urge an immediate ceasefire. The Chinese Foreign Ministry initially did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment. He would thus be on the Moscow line; the Kremlin, before negotiations, is demanding that Kiev recognize what it sees as territorial facts.
The Vice President of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, had previously outlined scenarios for the outcome of the war. In his preferred variant, western regions of Ukraine would be ceded to several EU countries and eastern regions to Russia, while residents of the central areas voted to join Russia. With this outcome, “the conflict ends with sufficient guarantees that it will not resume in the long term,” he wrote on Telegram. In what he says is a “temporarily” acceptable scenario for Moscow, Ukraine would be completely divided between EU countries and Russia in the course of the war, while a Ukrainian government-in-exile would be formed in Europe.
Li on European tour
Moscow and Beijing also expressed their willingness to “further strengthen Russian-Chinese foreign policy cooperation” in order to “maintain peace and stability in the region and around the world,” according to Russian sources at the meeting in Moscow. Li was formerly China’s ambassador to Moscow. Beijing has tasked him with finding a political solution to the Ukraine conflict. In the past few days he had traveled to Kiev and Berlin, among other places.
In Ukraine, Li met Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The latter emphasized the importance of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. During his visit, the German government called on Li to put pressure on Moscow to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine.
Russia and China have intensified economic and diplomatic ties since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Beijing has never publicly condemned the Russian attack, and China’s President Xi Jinping spoke of a “new era” in relations between the two countries during a visit to Moscow in March.