Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: THOMAS PETER / POOL / AFP
Weakened in the eyes of Westerners, the Russian regime was however able to count on Sunday on the support of Beijing. “As a friendly neighbor and a strategic partner, China supports Russia in its efforts to safeguard the country’s stability,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. This is the first official Chinese reaction to the situation in Russia.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry assured Sunday that it supported Russia’s efforts to “protect the stability” of the country, Beijing’s first reaction after the rebellion of the paramilitary group Wagner, which shook the Kremlin. “As a friendly neighbor and a strategic partner, China supports Russia in its efforts to safeguard the country’s stability, develop and achieve prosperity,” the ministry said in a statement.
“An Internal Matter”
This is the first official Chinese reaction to the situation in Russia, where Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigojine, during a mad 24-hour spree that led his militias less than 400 km from Moscow, challenged the authority of the Russian president before turning around, withdrawing his men and leaving to settle in neighboring Belarus. It is in this context that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Roudenko was received in Beijing on Sunday by Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang. Moscow had claimed earlier that during those talks, China had expressed its “support” for President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to “stabilize the situation” after the Wagner Group rebellion.
Relations between Moscow and Beijing have strengthened in recent years, particularly in the context of the conflict in Ukraine which has seen Moscow turn to Asia to compensate for its isolation in the West. China, which has never publicly condemned the Russian invasion, published a document in February calling for a “political settlement” of the conflict and to respect the territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine.