China’s most senior diplomat and Russia’s security chief have met in Moscow.
The official readout says they were promoting “peace and stability” - yet their talks come almost a year after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Wang Yi and Nikolai Patrushev say they “opposed the introduction of a cold war mentality”, yet Beijing has been accused of already sending dual use technology to support Russia’s war effort.
As the two spoke Washington has been trying to apply more pressure on Russia to stop the war with fresh sanctions.
To this, they replied that China and Russia “oppose all forms of unilateral bullying”.
Wang Yi will also meet Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and could sit down with President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin told me “there’s a lot to talk about”.
Finally, there has been considerable speculation here in Beijing that plans are under way for China’s leader Xi Jinping to visit Russia in the coming months.
Source: BBC