Xi meets ‘dear friend’ Putin, who ‘will certainly discuss’ Ukraine peace plan – live

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Xi Jinping arrives in Moscow to meet Putin for state visit

Vladimir Putin has greeted China’s Xi Jinping at the Kremlin, with the two presidents calling each other “dear friend” as they shook hands at the outset of the latter’s first state visit to Moscow in four years.

Mr Putin claimed he would “certainly discuss” China’s 12-point peace plan for the war in Ukraine and treat it “with respect”, insisting that Moscow was “always open to negotiations” in the war it launched one year ago.

The visit comes just days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Mr Putin’s arrest over war crimes in Ukraine.

In a largely symbolic retort, issued as Mr Xi touched down in Moscow, Russia’s investigative committee announced that it had launched a criminal investigation into the ICC prosecutor and judges who had issued the arrest warrant.

The committee echoed a claim made hours earlier by China’s foreign ministry that the ICC should avoid “double standards” with its arrest warrant – which relates to the illegal deportation of hundreds of children from Ukraine – and respect immunity for heads of state under international law.

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Xi and Putin greet one another as “dear friend”

Chinese President Xi Jinping has met his “dear friend” Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow.

Mr Xi was the first leader to meet the Russian president since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him on Friday over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia during its year-old invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow said the charge was one of several “clearly hostile displays” and opened a criminal case against the ICC prosecutor and judges. Beijing said the warrant reflected double standards.

Russia is presenting Mr Xi’s trip, his first since securing an unprecedented third term this month, as evidence that it has a powerful friend in its standoff with a hostile West.

The two men greeted one another as “dear friend” when they met in the Kremlin on Monday afternoon before a dinner, to be followed by formal talks on Tuesday.

Mr Putin told Mr Xi he viewed China’s proposals for a resolution of the Ukraine conflict with respect and was also “slightly envious” of China’s rapid development in recent decades.

“China has created a very effective system for developing the economy and strengthening the state. It is much more effective than in many other countries,” he said.

(via REUTERS)

(AP)

Sam Rkaina20 March 2023 14:26

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Is Putin desperate enough to let Xi get his way over Ukraine?

Every day that goes by gets worse for Russia, with little or no route to victory in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, writes Timothy Ash.

Russia and China are now aligned, but no deal is possible without the agreement of Ukraine; and Ukraine still feels it can win this war. But China’s 12-point peace plan did include some elements that Kyiv appreciated, including talk of “territorial integrity”.

A sticking point could well be Ukraine giving up on ambitions for Nato membership, but that might well be assuaged by US-Israel style security guarantees from senior Nato states. The problem here is that Putin invaded Ukraine not because of its Nato aspirations, but simply because he wants Ukraine.

Agreement over Nato member security guarantees for Ukraine would mean, in effect, Russia has lost Ukraine forever. Is Putin so desperate to save his own skin as to accept that? We might soon find out.

Read the full story here:

Arpan Rai21 March 2023 04:20

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Fumio Kishida raises Ukraine war with Modi: ‘Japan strongly condemns Russia’s aggression’

Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida said he raised the issue of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine during his meeting with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi – who stopped short of mentioning the war in his own remarks.

Mr Kishida, who began a two-day visit to India on Monday, has an expansive new plan set out for an open and free Indo-Pacific region. This includes cooperation between the two Quad partners as witnessed in Tokyo’s efforts to forge stronger partnerships with south Asian countries to counter China’s growing assertiveness.

The Japanese leader was expected to convince Delhi to forge a broader and stronger coalition to call out Russia for its invasion of Ukraine during his meeting with Mr Modi and referred to his Indian counterpart’s earlier rebuke of Mr Putin.

“I reiterate that Japan strongly condemns Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and will never recognise it,” Mr Kishida said while delivering the 41st Sapru House lecture. “Prime minister Modi too expressed to president Putin that today is not the era of war. Japan opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo by force anywhere in the world.”

He delivered the lecture in the presence of a gathering of top diplomats, envoys and experts hours after he held bilateral talks with Mr Modi for the strengthening of India and Japan’s “Special Strategic and Global Partnership”.

Eleanor Noyce21 March 2023 04:00

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Russia to hold own UN meeting on Ukrainian child abductions

Russia is looking to hold an informal meeting of the UN Security Council in early April on what it calls “the real situation” of Ukrainian children taken to Russia, officials said.

This comes in the wake of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin for war crimes related to the abduction of children.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia claimed in a news conference that Moscow planned the council meeting long before Friday’s announcement by the ICC.

From April, Russia also holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council.

The arrest warrant for Mr Putin has been issued as he “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” the ICC said.

Arpan Rai21 March 2023 03:52

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Ukraine firing thousands of artillery shells in Bakhmut, burning through its munition stock – report

Ukrainian forces are fast burning through their ammunition piles to retain Bakhmut and are firing thousands of artillery shells in a day across the 600-mile frontline in their bid to stop Russia from snatching the mining city, two US officials have said.

The Pentagon raised concerns about this with Kyiv recently as the forces in the embattled city saw several days of nonstop artillery firing, the officials said, according to a report by The New York Times.

The US has warned Ukraine against wasting ammunition at a key time as the war-hit nation looks at a decisive spring offensive.

Officials from the Pentagon have highlighted the tension between Ukraine’s move to protect Bakhmut from Russia at all costs and its hopes for taking back some more territory in the spring, where the sludgy swathes of land from receding winter will make way for a dry battlefield.

The speed at which Ukraine is burning through its munition stockpiles is unsustainable and could imperil its springtime campaign, American and European officials have warned.

Arpan Rai21 March 2023 03:37

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Japan PM Kishida leaves for Ukraine after meeting Modi in New Delhi

Japan prime minister Fumio Kishida has left for Ukraine today where he will meet Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, reported Japanese broadcaster NHK News.

The Japanese leader has already departed from India where he met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi and is directly reaching Ukraine, the report said citing unnamed sources.

Arpan Rai21 March 2023 03:16

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EU’s top diplomat hails deal on artillery shells for Ukraine

European Union countries have endorsed a fast-track procedure aimed at providing Ukraine with sorely needed artillery shells to repel Russia’s invasion forces, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday, as Moscow maintains its focus on attacking the industrial east of the war-ravaged country.

As he chaired a meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers in Brussels, Borrell took to Twitter to hail what he described as “a historic decision” for the 27-nation bloc and Norway to send Ukraine 1 million 155-millimetre artillery shells within 12 months.

“We are taking a key step towards delivering on our promises to provide Ukraine with more artillery ammunition,” he said, and noted that 18 countries had signed up to a European Defense Agency, or EDA, project to place joint orders for ammunition with the defence industry.

Borrell said that he had won approval for his proposal to provide 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to encourage member nations to provide artillery shells from their stocks and any orders for new rounds that they might have placed with industry.

A further 1 billion euros would also be used to fast-track new orders and encourage countries to work together on those purchases through the EDA or in groups of at least three nations. Germany has already called for countries to join its own effort, which Berlin believes will go faster.

Eleanor Noyce21 March 2023 03:00

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UK to ‘consider’ backing tribunal to look into potential war crimes in Ukraine

The UK will “consider” backing a special tribunal to look into potential war crimes in Ukraine, after the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky urged nations to support the idea.

It comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrest, accusing him of bearing personal responsibility for the abduction of children from Ukraine.

Speaking during a conference at Lancaster House in central London, where justice ministers from around the world were gathered, Karim Khan KC demanded Russia “return” children to Ukraine as alleged war crimes were detailed.

Concluding the meeting, Mr Zelensky, appearing in a pre-recorded message, urged delegates to back a tribunal to look into Russian “aggression”.

Eleanor Noyce21 March 2023 02:00

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How US secretary of state Antony Blinken became a major player in the Ukraine war

When secretary of state Antony Blinken made a personal appeal to Volodymyr Zelensky, hoping to convince him that a Russian invasion was imminent, Ukraine’s president didn’t believe him.

The warning lacked specificity, Zelensky recalled in an interview after the invasion. Moreover, if the Americans truly believed the situation was as dire as Blinken intimated, why hadn’t they begun to send more powerful weapons months sooner?

This discreet meeting, occurring on the sidelines of a climate summit in Glasgow in November 2021, revealed the limitations of Blinken’s influence over the Ukrainian leader and Zelensky’s innate scepticism of US intelligence. But in the time since, Blinken’s rapport with Zelensky and his top aides has evolved substantially, and the top US diplomat has become one of Kyiv’s most trusted champions and interlocutors.

The diplomat is ‘completely synchronised with us in terms of vision’, say Zelensky’s advisers, while detractors say he must be bolder in brokering negotiations. John Hudson profiles one of Joe Biden’s most influential allies:

Eleanor Noyce21 March 2023 01:00

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Putin appears to be heckled during Mariupol visit

Vladimir Putin appeared to be heckled by a Mariupol resident during his visit to the annexed city on Sunday (19 March).

According to The Telegraph, as the president of Russia met with supposedly grateful Ukrainians, a woman can be heard shouting: “It’s all lies, it’s all just for show.”

In the footage, which was broadcast on television, Mr Putin’s security team appear to begin frantically looking around to try and locate the disturbance.

The president was meeting residents of a reconstructed apartment block, with one of those he spoke to describing Mariupol as “paradise”.

Putin appears to be heckled during Mariupol visit

Vladimir Putin appeared to be heckled by a Mariupol resident during his visit to the annexed city on Sunday (19 March). According to The Telegraph, as the president of Russia met with supposedly grateful Ukrainians, a woman can be heard shouting: “It’s all lies, it’s all just for show.” In the footage, which was broadcast on television, Mr Putin’s security team appear to begin frantically looking around to try and locate the disturbance. The president was meeting residents of a reconstructed apartment block, with one of those he spoke to describing Mariupol as “paradise”. Click here to sign up for our newsletters.

Eleanor Noyce20 March 2023 23:59

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