Category Archives: Russia

China and Russia reaffirm close ties as Putin meets top diplomat

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On eve of Ukraine invasion anniversary Russian leader says China relations ‘proceeding as planned’

China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, has met Vladimir Putin in Moscow, as China and Russia reaffirm their close bilateral relationship just days before the first anniversary of the start of the Ukraine war.

In brief televised remarks Wang said China and Russia were ready to deepen their strategic cooperation. Earlier on Wednesday, Wang met Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, where he said he expected to reach a “new consensus” on advancing the relationship between the two allies.

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China and Japan meet for formal security talks to stabilise tensions

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Officials meet in Tokyo to discuss concerns at China’s cooperation with Russia and Japan’s military buildup

Chinese and Japanese officials met in Tokyo on Wednesday for formal security talks for the first time in four years, in a meeting aimed at stabilising increasingly strained relations.

In Japan’s national security strategy, released in December, China was described as “the greatest strategic challenge” to Japan’s peace and security.

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War in Ukraine defining new world order, says thinktank

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Poll reveals west more united but gulf growing with countries such as India that do not subscribe to post-cold war view

Almost a year after Russia’s war against Ukraine started, it has united the west, according to a 15-country survey – but exposed a widening gulf with the rest of the world that is defining the contours of a future global order.

The study, by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) thinktank, surveyed opinions in nine EU member states, including France, Germany and Poland, and in Britain and the US, as well as China, Russia, India and Turkey.

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Biden pledges more Moscow sanctions: ‘Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia’ – as it happened

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Speaking before a crowd of thousands in the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, Joe Biden hailed the resilience of Ukraine’s people and the benevolence of Poland and other western allies in helping fend off the Russian invasion.

“Autocrats only understand one word: no.” Biden said. “No, you will not take my country. No, you will not take my freedom. No, you will not take my future. I’ll repeat tonight what I said last year at the same place. A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberties. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, never.”

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Joe Biden says Russian forces in disarray after year of war in Ukraine

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US president issues rallying cry in Warsaw but warns of ‘very bitter days’ ahead in defence of democracy

Joe Biden has claimed Vladimir Putin’s year of war against Ukraine has left behind “burned-out tanks and Russian forces in disarray” but he also warned of “very bitter days” ahead in the defence of democracy in eastern Europe.

Biden issued a rallying cry in a speech to mark the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion, addressing a crowd of 30,000, mostly Poles and Ukrainians, in front of the arches below Warsaw’s royal castleon Tuesday evening.

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Putin thought enemies would ‘roll over’ but he was wrong, says Joe Biden in major speech in Poland – as it happened

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US president delivers speech in Poland on anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine after Putin says he will suspend participation in New Start treaty. This live blog is now closed

There have been at least 18,955 civilian casualties since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The OHCHR released the report citing the number of casualties as being 7,199 killed and 11,756 injured, but believes the actual figures are considerably higher.

From 24 February 2022, when the Russian Federation’s armed attack against Ukraine started, to 12 February 2023, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 18,955 civilian casualties in the country: 7,199 killed and 11,756 injured.”

The situation is not easy. I have said more than once: every man – and not only a man – should be able to at least handle weapons.

At least in order to protect his family, if needed, his home, his own piece of land and – if necessary – his country.”

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Putin says Russia will halt participation in New Start nuclear arms treaty

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Russian president airs grievances against west in speech devoted to first anniversary of Ukraine invasion

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will halt its participation in New Start, the last major remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the US, in a speech devoted to the one-year anniversary of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“They want to inflict a strategic defeat on us and claim our nuclear facilities,” the Russian president said during a speech characterised by grievances against the west. “In this regard, I am forced to state that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty.”

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China foreign minister warns against ‘fuelling the fire’ over Ukraine conflict

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Qin Gang ‘deeply concerned’ about war spiralling out of control and appears to hit back at US for ‘shifting blame to China’

China’s new foreign minister has accused the US of shifting blame for the Ukraine war on to China, in an apparent pushback against warnings from Washington that China is considering supplying weapons to Russia.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, at the launch of a Chinese government paper on its global security initiative, Qin Gang said China was “deeply concerned” about the war in Ukraine escalating and possibly “spiralling out of control”.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv ‘unprecedented in modern times’, says US – live

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First time a US president visited a ‘country at war where US military does not control critical infrastructure’, says national security adviser

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has tweeted to thank Estonia for a proposal for “joint direct procurement of arms and ammunition” for Ukraine, and to express his regrets that he is not attending the EU’s foreign affairs council meeting in Brussels later today in person.

The meeting in Brussels, chaired by the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has on its agenda to “exchange views on the Russian aggression against Ukraine, after a first informal exchange with the minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine”. It will later also discuss Moldova, where the pro-western government has recently changed, in part, according to president Maia Sandu, because of tensions over Russia.

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Biden’s Ukraine trip undercuts Kremlin narrative of waning support in the west

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Visit is unwelcome twist for Vladimir Putin as he prepares state of the nation address to mark invasion’s anniversary

The Kremlin has met Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine with official silence, as analysts and pundits suggested the US leader’s historic trip was an unwelcome twist ahead of a speech by Vladimir Putin and other state events set to mark the anniversary of the full-scale invasion.

Biden’s surprise trip to Ukraine has undercut the Kremlin narrative that the west’s support for Ukraine is waning, with promises of another $500m (£415m) in military aid and fresh sanctions set to be imposed before the end of the week.

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US informed Russia of Joe Biden’s Kyiv visit hours before departure

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Details emerge of how White House planned ‘unprecedented’ visit and meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy

The White House notified the Kremlin of Joe Biden’s intention to visit Kyiv hours before he departed for Ukraine, it has been revealed, as the details began to emerge of how the US president pulled off his high-profile diplomatic coup.

Meticulously planned over several months by a tight circle of key advisers, Biden’s visit was described as “unprecedented in modern times” by his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, on the grounds that it was the first time a US president had visited “the capital of the country at war where the United States military does not control the critical infrastructure”.

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Biden promises Kyiv extra military aid as EU discusses ammunition

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US president pledges $500m in help for Ukraine while west prepares next phase of sanctions against Russia

Joe Biden has promised further military aid for Ukraine worth $500m (£415m) during his unannounced visit to Kyiv, as EU foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss ways to accelerate the provision of ammunition.

The US president also said additional sanctions would be announced this week against Russia’s elite and companies trying to evade existing sanctions in order to “back the Russian war machine”.

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Shell and Vitol accused of prolonging Ukraine war with sanctions ‘loophole’

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Exclusive: Ukrainian economic adviser urges energy firms to heed deadline to halt trade of ‘Russian-origin oil products’

The oil company Shell and energy trader Vitol have been accused of prolonging the war in Ukraine by exploiting a “loophole” in the EU sanctions regime to bring products derived from Russian oil into Europe through Turkey.

Oleg Ustenko, the economic adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged the energy companies to commit to a deadline to halt the trade of a “Russian-origin oil products” to reduce Vladimir Putin’s war coffers, the Guardian can reveal.

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Ukraine war ‘over’ unless EU boosts military support, says top diplomat

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Foreign affairs chief tells Munich security conference provision of ammunition has to be solved quickly

The war with Ukraine will be over unless the EU finds a way in weeks to speed up the provision of ammunition to Ukraine, Josep Borrell, the EU foreign affairs chief, warned on the final day of the Munich security conference.

He said a special meeting of EU defence ministers slated for 8-9 March will provide a chance for countries to offer ammunition from their existing stocks, adding it is taking up to 10 months for European armies to order and receive a single bullet.

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China may be on brink of supplying arms to Russia, says Blinken

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US secretary of state meets with top Chinese diplomat, Wang Yi, and warns of ‘serious problem for us’ if Beijing supplies weaponry to Vladimir Putin

The US has said it believes China may be about to provide lethal aid to help Russia in the war in Ukraine, prompting a direct warning against doing so from the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to China’s top diplomat.

Blinken made the warning to the Chinese state councillor Wang Yi on Saturday evening at a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich security conference during which he also rebuked China over the use of an alleged spy balloon over US soil.

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Brussels tries to form united front against Putin’s oligarchs

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The west has made it hard for Russia’s millionaires to retain assets – but not impossible. Now the EU wants to try harder

It has been a long year since Liz Truss launched a rolling programme of sanctions on Russia’s oligarchs. Speaking three days after the invasion of Ukraine, the foreign secretary, as she was then, signalled an end to the UK government’s no-questions-asked approach.

“We are targeting oligarchs’ private jets, we’ll be targeting their properties, we’ll be targeting other possessions that they have,” she told Sky TV. “There will be nowhere to hide.”

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Sunak urges Europe to use weapons stockpiles to help Ukraine war

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UK prime minister says Kyiv needs more ammunition, air defence, heavy armoury and longer range weapons

European countries should stop hoarding weapon stockpiles and give them to Ukraine to allow Kyiv to make a decisive assault, Rishi Sunak has told the Munich security conference.

The British prime minister said Ukraine needed more ammunition, air defence, heavy armoury and longer range weapons, amid frustration in London and Kyiv that some European powers are refusing to hand over arms on the basis they cannot afford to reduce their own defences.

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US reaction to balloon ‘absurd and hysterical’, says top Chinese diplomat

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Wang Yi also says China is preparing to outline position on Russian war against Ukraine

China’s most senior diplomat has described the shooting down of a balloon by the US as “absurd and hysterical”, as well as an abuse of the use of force.

Speaking on stage at the Munich security conference on Saturday, Wang Yi said: “It does not show the US is strong; on the contrary it shows it is weak”. The foreign affairs director said he believed the shooting down was part of an attempt to divert attention from the domestic problems of the Biden administration.

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Sunak urges allies to ‘double down’ on military support – as it happened

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In a speech to Munich security conference, UK prime minister says west must not ‘falter in its resolve’. This blog is now closed

The European Union wants to work with its defence industry to increase the supply of ammunition to both Ukraine and the armed forces of its member states, the bloc’s chief has said.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen suggested that the EU’s delivery of the Covid vaccine could serve as a model for how to up production.

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