Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Security guarantees required
Xi supports Putin in the conflict with NATO
In the Ukraine crisis, Russia insists on concessions from the West. With the Chinese President Xi, President Putin is now gaining an influential advocate for his demands. Both countries see international law “trampled underfoot”.
According to his presidential office, Russian President Vladimir Putin has won the support of China for his demand for binding security guarantees from the West. Chinese President Xi Jinping assured Putin of this in a video conference, said the representative of the Presidential Office in Moscow, Yuri Ushakov.
Putin previously informed Xi about his recent conversation with US President Joe Biden. Xi had assured Putin that he understood his concerns and supported the Russian initiative. Xi himself said, according to Chinese state media, both countries should safeguard each other’s security interests. Xi had told Putin that “certain international forces” were interfering in the internal affairs of China and Russia under the guise of democracy. These forces would trample on international law and recognized norms of international relations.
Russia wants the US and NATO to guarantee that the Western military alliance will not expand further east or station certain weapons systems in Ukraine and other countries bordering Russia. The Russian Presidential Office announced that the Deputy Secretary of State Karen Donfried was presented with concrete proposals for binding security guarantees in Moscow today, Wednesday. Donfried had flown to Moscow amid growing tensions between East and West in the Ukraine crisis.
Russia accuses NATO of breaking its word
Ukraine has been striving for membership in NATO for some time. The country has already received US military aid in the conflict with its neighbor Russia. The Russian leadership argues that an eastward expansion of NATO threatens Russia and contradicts the assurances that NATO made in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed.
According to NATO, their own activities are purely defensive in nature and serve to deter new aggression by Russia. The government in Kiev fears an offensive by the Russian military, which, according to Ukrainian sources, has gathered around 100,000 soldiers to prepare for them near the border.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen threatened Russia with unprecedented and serious consequences if the Ukraine conflict intensified. The European Union could react to any further aggression by tightening or expanding existing sanctions, she said in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg one day before the EU summit.