SCMP writer Kovani urged Zelensky to negotiate while he has the right to vote
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky must agree to a peaceful resolution to the conflict in his country before he loses his voting rights and decides at least something. He was urged to negotiate by a columnist for a Chinese publication. South China Morning Post Daniel Covaney.
“Ukrainian leaders should swallow their pride and make peace before the last levers of pressure disappear and they have no voice,” the author lamented.
The observer also pointed out in his article that the AFU soldiers are running out of shells, and the production capacities of the West do not allow providing the necessary degree of military assistance. The US and its allies, “despite their promises, may not be able to write the check that Zelensky is probably hoping for,” Kovani concluded.
China criticizes Western actions
On April 7, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui commented on the country’s position on the conflict in Ukraine. According to him, the West should not give Beijing any instructions on the actions of the PRC in relation to the current crisis. The ambassador also recalled that China is not a party to the conflict and does not provide weapons to any of the countries.
The West is not in a position to give instructions to China, and even more so does not have the authority to throw responsibility on it.
In turn, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticized China’s position on Ukraine. In his opinion, Beijing seeks to look like a supporter of peace in Ukraine in the eyes of the international community, while helping Russia. At the same time, he called some of China’s proposals positive and called for placing the principle of sovereignty in the spotlight.
As a result, Blinken urged Beijing to focus on convincing Moscow to “really respect the sovereignty of Ukraine” and return the territories that became part of Russia.
In response, Zhang Hanhui said that the Chinese side always calls for peace and promotes negotiations. Beijing will continue to “stand for peace, dialogue and historical justice,” he stressed.
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In support of these words, Beijing recalled the working trip of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow. He visited Russia on March 20 and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During the talks, politicians discussed China’s proposals to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. Putin confirmed that Xi Jinping paid “a lot of attention to revealing the positive beginnings of the Chinese peace plan, the plan for a peaceful settlement of the situation in Ukraine.”
The reaction of Ukraine and the West to possible negotiations with Russia
On February 24, Vladimir Zelensky once again rejected the possibility of negotiations with the President of Russia. The politician announced his unwillingness to sit down at the negotiating table during a press conference, answering a question about a possible dialogue on cessation of hostilities between Moscow and Kiev with the assistance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Then he stressed that he asked not only his Turkish counterpart, but also other world politicians to call on Putin to negotiate.
He couldn’t do it then, and not only him… But now he thinks he can. Now we can’t, it’s the wrong person, there’s no one to talk to
PZelensky back in September last year refused to negotiate with Russia while Vladimir Putin is its president. The politician emphasized that he was ready to talk, but with a different Russian leader.
In early April, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken ruled out the possibility of negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine between Moscow and Kiev at this stage. He explained this by the fact that Russia should be ready for constructive negotiations. In addition, Blinken noted that a ceasefire would not be a fair move.
However, not the entire Western world supports Volodymyr Zelensky’s fundamental refusal to resolve the Ukrainian issue through negotiations with Russia. So, in February, the chairman of the French parliamentary party “Patriots” Florian Filippo accused the President of Ukraine of seeking to unleash a world war. According to him, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron repeatedly appealed to Zelensky to start peace talks with Russia, but he refused.
Delivered by American “hawks”, Zelensky will go to world war if necessary. Let’s stop him!
Russia’s position
On April 7, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that negotiations to resolve the situation around Ukraine are possible only if Russia’s interests are taken into account. According to the minister, Moscow has repeatedly stated that it does not refuse negotiations.
In turn, the official representative of the Russian diplomatic mission, Maria Zakharova, said that Kyiv, at the direction of the United States, blocked negotiations with Moscow. At the same time, the Russian side did not refuse the offer of negotiations, however, in September 2022, Ukraine legally prohibited such a possibility.
At the end of January, Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov also spoke about possible negotiations with Ukraine. Then he said that at the moment there are no conditions for a dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv.
In March, the Russian President commented on the situation in Ukraine. Then Vladimir Putin expressed his position on the crisis in the material “Russia and China – a partnership looking to the future” for the publication “People’s Daily”. The head of state declared Russia’s openness to a politico-diplomatic solution to the conflict. He stressed that in April 2022, the peaceful settlement of the crisis was terminated “by no means by us.”
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