In an interview that was released early on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that he supported China's proposal for a diplomatic resolution of the Ukraine conflict and that Beijing fully understood the causes of the crisis.
Before his trip to Beijing this week, Putin spoke to China's Xinhua news agency and stated that Russia was still open to negotiations to end the more than two-year-old conflict.
Putin claimed that China's strategy and additional "principles" announced by President Xi Jinping last month considered the causes of the conflict.
According to a transcript available on the Kremlin website in Russian, Putin stated, "We are positive in our assessment of China's approach to solving the Ukrainian crisis." "They really understand its global geopolitical meaning and its root causes in Beijing."
Additionally, Xi stated in discussions with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that the additional principles were "realistic and constructive steps" that "develop the idea of the necessity to overcome the mentality of the Cold War."
More than a year ago, Beijing presented a 12-point document outlining broad ideas for ending the conflict but omitted any details.
At the time, it was met with muted enthusiasm in both Russia and Ukraine, and the United States claimed China was portraying itself as a broker of peace while simultaneously endorsing Russia's "false narrative" and refusing to denounce its incursion.
The idea was described as a "reasonable plan that the great Chinese civilization proposed for discussion" by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last month.
The "cooling down" of the situation, the establishment of conditions for peace and stability to return, and the reduction of the effects on the global economy are among Xi's additional principles.
Russia sees the conflict as a struggle between itself and the "collective West," which has promoted NATO's eastward expansion and military activity near its borders while ignoring Moscow's security concerns.
Russia refers to its actions in Ukraine as a "special operation" aimed at disarming the country and defending it against fascists. The West and Ukraine maintain that the war is an unprovoked act of aggression and deny the veracity of the fascist accusation.
Days before Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, China and Russia declared their "no limits" relationship; however, Beijing has refrained from giving Russia real weapons and ammunition thus far.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's peace plan, Russia must withdraw its troops, redraw its post-Soviet borders from 1991, and take responsibility for its actions.
Switzerland is to host a "peace summit" in June. However, Russia says that talks must take into account "new realities," rejects the initiative as pointless, and has not been invited.
China has participated in some of the summit's preparatory discussions, and Ukraine has worked very hard to convince it to go
