Tag: Ukraine

Biden brings hope — as well as pledges of cash and weapons — to Ukraine

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KYIV — Just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the streets of the capital were suddenly locked down on Monday morning. Then videos of a mysterious procession of vehicles with blacked-out windows began being posted online.
Who, wondered many ordinary Ukrainians — trying to go about their daily business as best as they can despite the war — was the foreign guest causing so much inconvenience?
There had been rumors that Joe Biden was going to make a surprise visit to Kyiv before his scheduled trip to Poland. But the people of Ukraine didn’t know for sure until Biden was pictured walking out of Mykhailivsky monastery in central Kyiv together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The image of the U.S. president calmly walking in Kyiv, while air raid sirens blared in the background, gave hope to Ukrainians, who saw a powerful ally standing beside them.
“Thank you, Mister President, for visiting Kyiv today. Strong gesture in support of our fight. Again, we are invincible when united! Russia is already losing. Invaders will die. Be brave like Ukrainians and like Biden,” prominent Ukrainian military volunteer Serhiy Prytula said in a statement.
Russians were obviously less impressed. Dmitry Medvedev, a former president, reacted with a rant about Biden “being allowed to safely travel to Kyiv by Russians” and Russian military bloggers started asking when Vladimir Putin is going to the occupied Donetsk region to show the same kind of support for his troops.
Vladyslav Faraponov, an Internews Ukraine media analyst, told POLITICO that “Russians are going crazy on social media because they realize their weakness during this visit. There is nothing they can do about it. What is more, as the first anniversary of the war approaches, it makes them think of their foolishness as Russia’s officials have convinced them that Kyiv could be captured in three days.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told the AP that the Russians were only formally informed several hours before the visit to avoid “any miscalculation that could bring the two nuclear-armed nations into direct conflict.”

“It is difficult to imagine a bigger diplomatic slap [in the face] to Putin than the arrival of President Biden in Kyiv,” former CEO of Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz Andriy Kobolev wrote on Facebook.
Biden came bearing more than support: In a joint address with Zelenskyy, he announced half a billion dollars of additional assistance to Ukraine, which will include military equipment such as artillery munitions, javelins and howitzers.
“Together with more than 50 partner countries, we have approved more than 700 tanks and thousands of armored vehicles,” the U.S. president said. Biden also said he thought it was critical not to leave any doubt about U.S. support for Ukraine in the war: “The Ukrainian people have stepped up in a way that few people ever have in the past.”
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar described Biden’s visit as a historic day for Ukraine. “It is a sunny and warm day in Kyiv. We survived this winter, which is almost over. Now it is time to win the war,” she wrote in a statement, posting a photo of the Ukrainian first couple happily greeting Biden in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Deputy of Defence Minister Hanna Maliar | Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images
Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front lines also saw Biden’s visit as a morale boost ahead of the expected counteroffensive later this week.
“He came to the capital, half a thousand kilometers from the front line. And the guys at the very front, despite the wild fatigue and cold, have a completely different mood. More energy and strength. There is even greater confidence that we are doing everything right,” Ukrainian serviceman and environmental activist Yehor Firsov wrote in a Facebook post.
Faraponov, the Internews Ukraine media analyst, said: “In my view, the visit of President Biden is crucial for Ukrainians because it hasn’t been announced in advance, and it brings some hope during this difficult time.”
He added: “The visit is happening at the moment of the Russian counteroffensive in the east. In addition, last week Russia continued to launch missiles all over Ukraine. Therefore, Ukrainians have enormous expectations for the U.S. regarding extending its support toward Ukraine. It applies to fighter jets, more tanks, long-range missiles, and other means to defeat Russia. But what I’ve seen today is a confirmation that Biden has a special sentiment toward Ukraine.”
The shock visit was a logistical nightmare to arrange. Biden left Washington at 4:15 a.m. local time and U.S. officials had expressed concerns that the president couldn’t fly into Ukraine or take a 10-hour train ride without immense risk to the host nation and Biden himself. Ensuring the president’s safety was a near-impossible endeavor, those officials said, though they acknowledged Biden had long wanted to go to Kyiv.
A Ukrainian government official, speaking on the condition on anonymity due to the confidential information involved, said the Ukrainians “have been requesting this visit for a long time.”
The same official added that the visit had been prepared “in a very short amount of time” — around a week — “with the utmost level of secrecy through (President’s Office Head Andriy) Yermak’s and (Foreign Minister Dmytro) Kuleba’s lines of communication.”
Biden’s bold move brought praise from beyond Ukrainian borders. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said the visit to Kyiv was “immense.”
“In a way, it will frame all these events around the sad anniversary of the year of the full-scale war. And it will give, I think, a lot of mental power to the Ukrainian people. It will give a strong signal to Russia. But very important also, I think, all over the planet, and also countries of global south will get that signal.”
Poland’s Ambassador to the EU Andrzej Sadoś said Monday’s visit “strengthens the allies’ determination to support Ukraine and introduce further sanctions against Russia. It is a timely, symbolic and historic visit which shows that the free world stands with Ukraine.”
Lili Bayer contributed reporting.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 20, 2023
Liz Truss: UK should have ‘done more earlier’ to counter Vladimir Putin

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LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss argued the U.K. should have “done more earlier” to counter Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric before he invaded Ukraine, and said the West depended on Russian oil for too long.
Truss — the U.K.’s shortest-serving prime minister who resigned amid market turmoil last year — was speaking in a House of Commons debate about Ukraine, her first contribution in the chamber as a backbencher since 2012. She has been increasingly vocal on foreign policy since leaving office.
The former prime minister, who as served foreign secretary for Boris Johnson before succeeding him in the top job, recalled receiving a phone call at 3.30 a.m. on the morning of the invasion, and told MPs: “This was devastating news. But as well as being devastating, it was not unexpected.”
Truss praised the “sheer bravery” of Ukrainians defending their country, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Cabinet for not fleeing the country in the aftermath. “I remember being on a video conference that evening with the defense secretary and our counterparts, who weren’t in Poland, who weren’t in the United States,” she said of Ukraine’s top team. “They were in Kyiv and they were defending their country,” she added.
But while Truss argued Western sanctions had imposed an economic toll on Putin’s Russia, said urged reflection. “The reason that Putin took the action he took is because he didn’t believe we would follow through,” she argued, and said the West should “hold ourselves to high standards.”
Ukraine, she said, should have been allowed to join NATO.
“We were complacent about freedom and democracy after the Cold War,” she said. “We were told it was the end of history and that freedom and democracy were guaranteed and that we could carry on living our lives not worrying about what else could happen.”
Truss urged the U.K. to do all it could to help Ukraine win the war as soon as possible, including sending fighter jets, an ongoing matter of debate in Western capitals despite Ukrainian pleas.

And the former U.K. prime minister said the West should “never again” be “complacent in the face of Russian money, Russian oil and gas,” tying any future lifting of sanctions “to reform in Russia.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 20, 2023
Blinken: ‘Deep concern’ that China could provide lethal support for Russia’s war in Ukraine

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Blinken quickly segued into the United States’ “deep concern” that China is considering providing potentially lethal supplies to Russia in their renewed offensive against Ukraine.
“We’ve seen already over these past months the provision of nonlethal assistance that does go directly to aiding and abetting Russia’s war effort. And some further information that we are sharing today, and that I think will be out there soon, that indicates that they are strongly considering providing lethal assistance to Russia,” Blinken said.
Speaking earlier Saturday at the Munich conference in Germany, Vice President Kamala Harris said Russia has committed “crimes against humanity” in Ukraine and is responsible for a “widespread and systematic attack” against Ukraine’s civilian population — citing evidence of execution-style killings, rape, torture and forceful deportations.
Wang, who spoke after Harris at the conference, publicly slammed the U.S. response to the balloon that overflew the country as a “weak” and “near-hysterical” reaction; he also accused the U.S. of warmongering.
On China potentially aiding Russia’s war effort, Blinken said: “We see China considering this; we have not seen them cross that line. So I think it’s important that we make clear, as I did this evening in my meeting with Wang Yi, that this is something that is of deep concern to us. And I made clear the importance of not crossing that line, and the fact that it would have serious consequences in our own relationship, something that we do not need on top of the balloon incident that China’s engaged in.”
Pressed further by Margaret Brennan on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” on what would constitute lethal support to Russia’s war effort, Blinken replied: “Weapons. … Primarily weapons.”
“There’s a whole gamut of things that fit in that category, everything from ammunition to the weapons themselves,” he added.
Blinken said the U.S. has concerns over Chinese companies potentially providing equipment to Russian-backed mercenary groups operating in Ukraine, including the Wagner Group.

“To date, we have seen Chinese companies and of course, in China, there’s really no distinction between private companies and the state. We have seen them provide non-lethal support to Russia for use in Ukraine. The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support,” he said.
Blinken characterized the U.S. relationship with China as “competitive” and “among the most consequential but also complex relationships that we have,” adding that “we have a strong interest in trying to manage the relationship responsibly, and to make sure, to the best of our ability, that competition doesn’t veer into conflict or into cold war.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 19, 2023
F-16s, longer-range missiles could help Ukraine beat Russia, U.S. general privately tells lawmakers

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The general’s answer goes further than previous public comments by top national security officials, who have said they haven’t ruled out sending fighter jets in the future, but also note that air defenses are the most urgent current need.
Cavoli told the lawmakers at the Munich Security Conference that the U.S. and its allies should send the most advanced weapons they can part with to Ukraine. That included advanced aircraft, drones and missiles with ranges over 62 miles (100 kilometers), such as the Army Tactical Missile System. Those weapons would do a better job positioning Kyiv to repel Moscow’s troops, Cavoli said.
The general, who serves as both the supreme allied commander for Europe and as head of U.S. European Command, argued that Ukraine needs more advanced weapons and equipment to “enhance the deep fight,” per one of five people. A second person said Cavoli believes the West should equip Ukraine to “reach further” into Russian positions within Ukraine’s border.
A spokesperson for the general didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The remarks come as the transatlantic debate on whether to provide Kyiv with advanced aircraft has intensified.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has long called for fighter jets, arguing that Ukrainian pilots are skilled enough to train on Western-made warplanes and control the skies despite Russia’s air defenses. But President Joe Biden and some European leaders have so far rebuffed that request, saying that the provision of tanks and artillery are more important for the current phase of the war.
That stance has frustrated advocates of providing Ukraine with whatever the U.S. can afford to hand over. “The F-16s are an absolute must,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters on the sidelines of the conference. He accused the White House of being “slow on everything,” adding, “what you saw with the tanks is going to happen with the jets.”
On Thursday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to Biden urging him to send F-16s right away, POLITICO reported.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), who met with Cavoli and Ukrainian leaders in Munich, said he supports identifying Ukrainian pilots and maintenance crews and bringing them to the United States for training.
“It is the right thing to do to come up with a plan to identify personnel to be trained, along with the maintainers and develop a syllabus” on how to operate and repair the complex fourth-generation fighter plane. Kelly was not one of the five people who confirmed that Cavoli discussed sending more advanced weapons.
Kelly, a retired Navy pilot with combat experience, added that Ukrainians are interested in using the warplane to hit Russian air defense systems from far away, which would then allow other aircraft and drones to operate more freely across the country, particularly in the east and south where the fighting is concentrated.
The British government promised to train Ukrainians on NATO-standard aircraft, but didn’t provide a timeline for when or if London would send those warplanes eastward.
“The first step in being able to provide advanced aircrafts is to have soldiers or aviators who are capable of using them,” U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said last week while standing alongside Zelenskyy. “We need to make sure they are able to operate the aircraft they might eventually be using.”
Both American and British officials continue to say that nothing is off the table.
Slovakia, meanwhile, is in talks with Ukraine about sending MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. “The Ukrainian president asked me to deliver the MiGs. Now, because this official request has come, the process of negotiations can be started,” Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger said last week. “Our MiGs can save innocent lives in Ukraine.”
Cavoli spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart this week about what other military aid Kyiv needs. Also this week, allies started training Ukrainian troops on Leopard 2 and other tanks that Germany in January approved to be sent.
Any new, modern capability the Ukrainians receive will have a major impact on the fighting this year. Russian forces have stalled out in Donbas, launching costly attacks on Ukrainian lines that can be measured in feet rather than miles, and their poorly trained conscripts- and prisoners-turned-soldiers are struggling.
“The Russians will try to launch an offensive” this spring, a NATO official said on the sidelines of the gathering. “I don’t know how effective they’re going to be. I don’t know how much different it’s going to look than what everything else has looked like. … I don’t know what else they can do.”
That doesn’t mean the Ukrainians will have an easy go of it.
“People need to be aware that this is going to be a long fight,” the official said. “This is a war. This is not a crisis. This is not some small incident somewhere that can be managed. This is not a skirmish. This is an all-out war.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 19, 2023
Ukraine to hold meeting with EU, NATO on Feb 21

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Kiev: Ukraine will hold the first trilateral meeting with the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) this month, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“I look forward to meeting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell to strengthen our partnership and cooperation in defending Ukraine and Europe,” Kuleba tweeted.
Kuleba, Stoltenberg and Borrell will meet on February 21 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Xinhua news agency reported, citing NATO’s press service.
In January, the Ukrainian government said that integration into the EU and NATO is among the top goals for Ukraine.
In June 2022, EU leaders accepted Ukraine as a candidate for membership in the bloc.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 18, 2023
‘Ukraine is not going to militarily retake Crimea,’ top Democrat says

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Smith said that at some point there will be a negotiated end to the war. “Best case scenario is some sort of ’one Ukraine’ arrangement,” he added. “The real question is, can we get security guarantees for Ukraine” that would allow the U.S. and partner nations to “continue to train and arm Ukraine so that Russia doesn’t just do this again, once they’ve caught their breath and a couple of years.”
Smith didn’t rule out a fight for Crimea, which would be a Ukrainian decision.
But his comments reflect what appears to be a growing view in Washington that after a year of heavy fighting, some kind of agreement will need to be realized to end the war.
“No matter what the Ukrainians decide about Crimea in terms of where they choose to fight… Ukraine is not going to be safe unless Crimea is at a minimum, at a minimum, demilitarized,” Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland said at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington on Friday.
Pentagon officials told the House Armed Services Committee in a classified briefing last month that Ukrainian forces are unlikely to be able to recapture Crimea from Russian troops in the near future, an assessment that was surely unwelcome news in Kyiv, where retaking the peninsula is one of the government’s core goals for the war.
A Ukrainian attempt to retake Crimea would also be a red line for Vladimir Putin that could lead to a wider Russian response, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Zoom call with a group of experts Wednesday. The U.S. isn’t actively encouraging Ukraine to retake Crimea, but that the decision is Kyiv’s alone, Blinken conveyed to the group, according to four people with knowledge of the call. The administration’s main focus continues to be helping Ukraine advance where the fight is, mainly in the east.
Over the past year, Russian forces have moved their headquarters and ammunition depots in Crimea out of the range of some of the longest-range rockets and artillery that the U.S. has supplied Ukraine, signaling a concern over protecting their assets on the peninsula.
“I think the Russians do expect an attack on Crimea,” a NATO official said in Munich.

“Zelenskyy has commented on this, I think very consistently, that ‘look could I take it at the negotiating table? Sure. But I also need to be prepared to take it through force of arms if that’s what it comes down to.’ But I do think [Ukrainian leadership] is very clear-eyed about what the challenges are,” said the official, who asked to speak anonymously to discuss the war frankly.
The official added that “the Russians are concerned” about a potential Ukrainian assault, the threat of which has forced some Russian troops and assets to stay in place to fight back any push by Ukrainian forces.
Russia has been losing as many as 1,000 troops a day in stalled offensives in the Donbas by sending unsupported troops into headlong assaults on Ukrainian positions, and that level of losses at some point could become politically unsustainable for Putin.
“It’s not just the Russians that impose dilemmas on the Ukrainians,” the official said. “The Russians also experience that problem.” Occupying Crimea, “you’ve got to protect it. You’ve got to reinforce it. You’ve got to resupply it,” all realities that impose costs on the Kremlin both militarily and economically.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 18, 2023
Democrats, Republicans join up to urge Biden to send F-16s to Ukraine

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The letter was organized by Maine Democrat Jared Golden. Also signing on were Democrats Jason Crow of Colorado and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Republicans Tony Gonzales of Texas and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin.
The missive is the latest push from Capitol Hill to give Kyiv U.S.-made fighters. It also comes as supporters of Ukraine aid in both parties look to navigate a faction in the new House Republican majority that wants to curtail assistance.
The lawmakers contend that fighters — either the Lockheed Martin-manufactured F-16 or something similar — would give Ukrainian forces greater capability than ground-based artillery provided by the U.S. and other nations.
“F-16s or similar fourth generation fighter aircraft would provide Ukraine with a highly mobile platform from which to target Russian air-to-air missiles and drones, to protect Ukrainian ground forces as they engage Russian troops, as well as to engage Russian fighters for contested air superiority,” they argued.
The bipartisan push from Capitol Hill comes after a coordinated U.S.-German decision to send main battle tanks to the front lines. After some wrangling, the U.S. agreed to send Abrams tanks at a future point while Germany will donate Leopard tanks that will enter the field sooner.
But Biden appeared to reject sending F-16s to Ukraine last month, though the president later said he’d speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Even if Biden elected not to send U.S. F-16s, other Western nations that fly the American-made fighters could send them to Ukraine, though the U.S. would need to approve the transfer.
POLITICO reported the move has picked up steam at the Pentagon. But some argue there’s a greater need for artillery, air defenses and armor for Ukraine.

U.S.-made F-16s have been on Kyiv’s wish list for weapons since Russia’s invasion began a year ago. Lawmakers have also said the U.S. should send F-16s to Eastern European that transfer their old MiG fighters to Ukraine. That move won bipartisan support, though a weapons swap never came.
In their pitch to Biden, the lawmakers argued a decision on F-16s “must be made quickly” given the time needed to train Ukrainian pilots.
Still, they noted many Ukrainian pilots have already trained with the U.S. military in major exercises before the war and argued sending the jets “represents a sound strategic investment in bolstering Kiev’s military capability and bringing this conflict to a just conclusion.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 17, 2023
Keir Starmer visits Kyiv to emphasise Labour’s backing for Ukraine

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Keir Starmer has travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to emphasise Labour’s commitment to backing action to arm the country against a renewed offensive by Russia.
The Labour leader said the UK’s position on Ukraine would remain the same if there was a change of government next year, as he travelled to the suburbs of Irpin and Bucha where Russia committed significant atrocities last year as it was pushed back by Ukrainian forces.
“It’s incredible to see the evidence of atrocities that I’ve seen this morning. Photographs of civilians in the outskirts of Kyiv blindfolded, with their arms tied behind their back,” Starmer told Reuters.
He said he had travelled to Ukraine to express solidarity with the country and to emphasise the need to pursue justice and reparations against perpetrators. “There has to be justice for this. There has to be justice in The Hague and there has to be proper reparation in the rebuilding of Ukraine,” he said.
Speaking after his conversation with Zelenskiy, Starmer said it was a “constructive meeting” that had touched on the new military support Ukraine needs, as Kyiv continues to urge western leaders to give it fighter jets.
“We spoke about the need for that justice to cover both the use of Russian state assets for reconstruction and the need for there to be prosecutions for war crimes,” Starmer said.
“I was able to tell him that should there be a change of government when we have a general election here, the support for Ukraine will remain the same. It’s a very important message for me to be able to relay to the president face-to-face, and I’ve been able to do that this afternoon.”
Starmer said he held a ‘constructive meeting’ with Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Photograph: Office of the President of Ukraine/PA
Starmer said Zelenskiy was very concerned about whether Labour would continue support through weapons and training. “I stressed that the Labour party supports and would maintain the defence, training, and technological support the current UK government is providing,” he said.

“I’ve said throughout this conflict there will be no difference between the political parties on this, so we will continue to work with the government to see what further support we can provide.”
The trip is the start of an international charm campaign for the Labour leader, during which he will visit the Munich security conference over the weekend for meetings with world leaders.
The Guardian reported last year that Starmer had approached the Zelenskiy government about the possibility of a visit as opposition leader. Starmer has previously visited the Polish border and British troops in Estonia to affirm Labour’s “unshakeable” commitment to Nato, which a Labour government helped to found.
The trip has been postponed previously, during the turmoil of the collapse of Liz Truss’s government and because of the security situation in Ukraine.
Starmer is not the first national opposition leader to visit Kyiv. Friedrich Merz, the head of Germany’s biggest opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), travelled to the capital in May and was received by Zelenskiy.
Starmer is keen to portray himself to the Ukrainians as a reliable partner and strong supporter. At prime minister’s questions during Zelenskiy’s visit to London this month, he used all his time at the dispatch box to stress cross-party unity on Ukraine, rather than challenging Rishi Sunak.
He said Labour “doesn’t just hope for Ukrainian victory, we believe in it” and highlighted his time as a barrister representing victims of Serbian aggression at the international court of justice in The Hague. “We in this house have a duty to stand on the shoulders of giants and support Ukraine’s fight for freedom, liberty and victory,” Starmer said.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

February 16, 2023
China talks ‘peace,’ woos Europe and trashes Biden in Munich

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MUNICH — China is trying to drive a fresh wedge between Europe and the United States as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine trudges past its one-year mark.
Such was the motif of China’s newly promoted foreign policy chief Wang Yi when he broke the news at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that President Xi Jinping would soon present a “peace proposal” to resolve what Beijing calls a conflict — not a war — between Moscow and Kyiv. And he pointedly urged his European audience to get on board and shun the Americans.
In a major speech, Wang appealed specifically to the European leaders gathered in the room.

“We need to think calmly, especially our friends in Europe, about what efforts should be made to stop the warfare; what framework should there be to bring lasting peace to Europe; what role should Europe play to manifest its strategic autonomy,” said Wang, who will continue his Europe tour with a stop in Moscow.
In contrast, Wang launched a vociferous attack on “weak” Washington’s “near-hysterical” reaction to Chinese balloons over U.S. airspace, portraying the country as warmongering.
“Some forces might not want to see peace talks to materialize,” he said, widely interpreted as a reference to the U.S. “They don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians, [nor] the harms on Europe. They might have strategic goals larger than Ukraine itself. This warfare must not continue.”
Yet at the conference, Europe showed no signs of distancing itself from the U.S. nor pulling back on military support for Ukraine. The once-hesitant German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Europe to give Ukraine even more modern tanks. And French President Emmanuel Macron shot down the idea of immediate peace talks with the Kremlin.
And, predictably, there was widespread skepticism that China’s idea of “peace” will match that of Europe.
“China has not been able to condemn the invasion,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a group of reporters. Beijing’s peace plan, he added, “is quite vague.” Peace, the NATO chief emphasized, is only possible if Russia respects Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Europe watches with caution
Wang’s overtures illustrate the delicate dance China has been trying to pull off since the war began.
Keen to ensure Russia is not weakened in the long run, Beijing has offered Vladimir Putin much-needed diplomatic support, while steering clear of any direct military assistance that would attract Western sanctions against its economic and trade relations with the world.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Wang while in Munich | Johannes Simon/Getty Images
“We will put forward China’s position on the political settlement on the Ukraine crisis, and stay firm on the side of peace and dialogue,” Wang said. “We do not add fuel to the fire, and we are against reaping benefit from this crisis.”
According to Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who met Wang earlier this week, Xi will make his “peace proposal” on the first anniversary of the war, which is Friday.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Wang while in Munich. He said he hoped to have a “frank” conversation with the Beijing envoy.
“We believe that compliance with the principle of territorial integrity is China’s fundamental interest in the international arena,” Kuleba told journalists in Munich. “And that commitment to the observance and protection of this principle is a driving force for China, greater than other arguments offered by Ukraine, the United States, or any other country.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is also expected to meet Wang later on Saturday.
Many in Munich were wary of the upcoming Chinese plan.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock welcomed China’s effort to use its influence to foster peace but told reporters she had “talked intensively” with Wang during a bilateral meeting on Friday about “what a just peace means: not rewarding the attacker, the aggressor, but standing up for international law and for those who have been attacked.”
“A just peace,” she added, “presupposes that the party that has violated territorial integrity — meaning Russia — withdraws its troops from the occupied country.”
One reason for Europe’s concerns is the Chinese peace plan could undermine an effort at the United Nations to rally support for a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which will be on the U.N.’s General Assembly agenda next week, according to three European officials and diplomats.
Taiwan issue stokes up US-China tension
If China was keen to talk about peace in Ukraine, it’s more reluctant to do so in a case closer to home.
When Wolfgang Ischinger, the veteran German diplomat behind the conference, asked Wang if he could reassure the audience Beijing was not planning an imminent military escalation against Taiwan, the Chinese envoy was non-committal.
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said “what is happening in Europe today could happen in east Asia tomorrow” | Johannes Simon/Getty Images
“Let me assure the audience that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory. It has never been a country and it will never be a country in the future,” Wang said.
The worry over Taiwan resonated in a speech from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who said “what is happening in Europe today could happen in east Asia tomorrow.” Reminding the audience of the painful experience of relying on Russia’s energy supply, he said: “We should not make the same mistakes with China and other authoritarian regimes.”
But China’s most forceful attack was reserved for the U.S. Calling its decision to shoot down Chinese and other balloons “absurd” and “near-hysterical,” Wang said: “It does not show the U.S. is strong; on the contrary, it shows it is weak.
Wang also amplified the message in other bilateral meetings, including one with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. “U.S. bias and ignorance against China has reached a ridiculous level,” he said. “The U.S. … has to stop this kind of absurd nonsense out of domestic political needs.”
It remains unclear if Wang will hold a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken while in Germany, as has been discussed.
Hans von der Burchard and Lili Bayer reported from Munich, and Stuart Lau reported from Brussels.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 16, 2023
Netherlands orders expulsion of Russian diplomats

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The Dutch government on Saturday ordered the expulsion of several Russian diplomats over Russia’s “continued attempts to place intelligence officers into the Netherlands under diplomatic cover.”
The Netherlands also said it will close its consulate general in St. Petersburg on Monday and the Russian trade office in Amsterdam by Tuesday.
The moves are the latest development in ongoing negotiations over visas for diplomats: The Netherlands expelled 17 Russian diplomats last March over espionage concerns following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — after which Russia expelled 15 Dutch diplomats.
“Negotiations with Russia over the terms of sending diplomats back and forth to diplomatic posts have so far come to nothing,” the government said in a statement Saturday. “Russia keeps trying to surreptitiously place intelligence officers in the Netherlands as diplomats. At the same time, Russia refuses to issue visas for Dutch diplomats to staff the consulate general in St. Petersburg and the embassy in Moscow.”
It described the situation as “unacceptable” and “untenable.” The Dutch government added that it was “important to keep the embassies open as a communication channel, even now that relations with Russia are more difficult than ever.”
The diplomats now have two weeks to leave the country.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it will “give an appropriate response” to the Dutch decision, according to a report by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 16, 2023