Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Monday said that the visit to Moscow by China’s president days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, amounts to Beijing providing “diplomatic cover for Russia to continue to commit” war crimes.
President Xi Jinping’s visit “suggests that China feels no responsibility to hold the president accountable for the atrocities committed in Ukraine,” Mr. Blinken said of Mr. Putin.
Show moreBlinken Says Xi’s Visit to Moscow Offers ‘Diplomatic Cover’ for Putin’s War Crimes
Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.Credit...Pool photo by Sergei Karpukhin
When he welcomed Xi Jinping to the Kremlin on Monday, President Vladimir V. Putin pledged that Russia would study the Chinese leader’s peace proposals for Ukraine “with respect.”
Delivering brief remarks for the cameras in response, Mr. Xi did not mention Ukraine at all.
Show moreXi refrains from mentioning Ukraine in Moscow, instead focusing on generalities.
An oil tanker at a Russian port on the Black Sea. Last year, Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia to become China’s biggest supplier of crude.Credit...Associated Press
One year into the war in Ukraine, Western sanctions have left the Russian economy stagnant but
not crippled. One major reason is that China, which was already one of Russia’s biggest trading partners, has significantly expanded the economic relationship of the two countries.
As Russia has lost direct access to Western consumer brands and imports of the most advanced technology, like semiconductors, Chinese companies have stepped in to provide Russia with cheaper alternatives. And as European nations have weaned themselves off Russian oil,
China has bought more petroleum from Moscow, at discounted prices.
