Russian foreign minister visits key ally China amid Moscow’s grinding war against Ukraine
BEIJING: Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Beijing on Monday to display the strength of ties with close diplomatic partner China amid Moscow’s grinding war against Ukraine and an ongoing effort to align their foreign policies against the US and its allies.
The two continent-sized authoritarian states, at odds with democracies and Nato, aim to expand influence in Africa, the Middle East, and South America. China supports Russia’s claim of Western provocations for Putin’s 2022 assault, without any solid evidence.
The ministers would “discuss the situation in Ukraine and the Asia-Pacific region, issues of bilateral cooperation and interaction in the international arena”, AP reported quoting Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
Lavrov is expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, who has visited Russia during the conflict and maintained China’s line of not dubbing the Russian war in Ukraine an invasion.
Russia says Ukraine struck nuclear plant
Meanwhile, Russia said Ukraine struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station controlled by Russian
forces three times on Sunday and demanded the West respond, though Kyiv said it had nothing to do with the attacks, Reuters reported..
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has experts at the site, said it was the first time the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, was directly targeted since November 2022 and said the attack had endangered nuclear safety.
Russian forces seized the plant in 2022 after invading Ukraine. The plant houses six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 reactors fuelled with Uranium 235, along with spent nuclear fuel.
Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said Ukraine drones attacked plant three times on Sunday, injuring three, hitting a cargo area, and the reactor No. 6 dome.