Ties reaching ‘new milestones’

GBNEWS24DESK//

China pledged to deepen cooperation with Russia yesterday as US President Joe Biden met leaders of Nato’s eastern flank – highlighting geopolitical tensions ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Within Ukraine, schools took their classes online for the rest of the week for fear of an upsurge of Russian missile attacks a year on from Moscow’s February 24 all-out assault, which failed to topple the government and has long been bogged down.

Russia is due to begin military exercises with China in South Africa on Friday and has sent a flagship frigate equipped with new generation hypersonic cruise missiles. A Russian officer said yesterday Russia would fire artillery, but not the missiles, whose speed makes them difficult to shoot down.

Making the highest level visit to Russia by a Chinese official since the countries signed a “no limits” partnership weeks before the invasion, China’s top diplomat Wang Li told President Vladimir Putin that Beijing was ready to enhance ties.

A time of crisis required Russia and China “to continuously deepen our comprehensive strategic partnership”, Wang said.

Putin said that “Russian Chinese relations were proceeding as planned” and talked of reaching “new milestones” in areas such as bilateral trade.

The Russian president said he was looking forward to a visit to Moscow by Chinese President Xi Jinping and a deeper partnership.

Xi is expected to make a “peace speech” on Friday. Kyiv says there can be no talk of peace with Russian troops in Ukraine.

“This unprovoked and criminal Russian war against Ukraine, Europe and the democratic world must end with the cleansing of the entire Ukrainian land from Russian occupation and solid guarantees of the long-term security for our state, the whole of Europe and the entire world,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

In Warsaw, Biden met leaders of Nato’s eastern flank yesterday and reaffirmed US commitment to European security after Moscow suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty over strong Western support for Ukraine, reports Reuters.

Biden arrived in the Polish capital Warsaw late on Monday after a surprise visit to Kyiv.