China’s Xi arrives for 1st visit in Russia since Ukraine invasion

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, hoping for support against Western pressure over the war in Ukraine.

Xi will be the first national leader to shake hands with Putin since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him on Friday over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since the invasion. Xi will present China as the goal of global peace to end the conflict.

Moscow denies the accusations and Beijing says they show double standards.

The Tass news agency reported that Xi had arrived in the country in the Moscow afternoon, his first visit since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia presented Xi’s trip, also the first since securing an unprecedented third term this month, as evidence that has a powerful friend prepared to stand with the hostile West who accuses of trying to isolate and defeat Moscow.

“We can feel the geopolitical landscape of the outside world undergoing drastic changes,” Putin said in an article in China’s People’s Daily published on the Kremlin’s website.

China has issued a 12-point proposal to resolve the Ukraine crisis, but at the same time strengthen ties with Moscow.

China has repeatedly denied Western accusations that it plans to dominate Russia, but has said it wants a closer energy partnership after increasing imports of Russian coal, gas and oil following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Western sanctions on Russian energy mean Beijing has saved billions of dollars.

Putin visited Mariupol

China’s Ukraine peace proposal, released last month, reflects a global view and acknowledges difficulties, Xi said in an article scheduled for a visit to Moscow.

“Complex problems do not have simple solutions,” Xi wrote in Rossiiskaya Gazeta, a daily published by the Russian government, according to a Reuters translation from Russia.

Ukraine and Western backers will likely dismiss any attempt to secure a ceasefire as little more than a ploy to buy Putin time to strengthen, and delay the expected Ukrainian counter-offensive.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will only consider a peaceful settlement after Russian troops leave Ukrainian territory.

China’s proposal contained only general statements and no concrete proposals on how to end the year-long war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, destroyed cities and forced millions to flee.

Putin, who visited Russian-held Mariupol in Ukraine over the weekend, welcomed China’s offer to mediate. He signed an “unrestricted” strategic partnership with Xi last year before sending tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine to stop what he says is a threat to Russia from its moves to the West.

The United States and its allies are deeply skeptical of China’s motives, as it refuses to punish Russia and offer an economic lifeline as others impose sanctions.

In addition to oil and coal shipments to China, Putin said Russia is helping build nuclear power reactors there and the two countries are increasing cooperation in space exploration and new technologies.

The United States and the transatlantic military alliance NATO recently accused China of considering supplying weapons to Russia and warned against doing so.

China has denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, justice ministers from around the world will meet in London on Monday to discuss support for the ICC.

“We are gathering in London today for one reason: to hold war criminals to account for the atrocities committed in Ukraine during this unjustified, unprovoked and illegal invasion,” British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said.

war updates

In Ukraine, fierce fighting continues in the eastern city of Bakhmut with each side launching counter-attacks. Ukrainian forces have been held in Bakhmut since the end of summer in the longest and bloodiest war.

Giving the usual morning roundup from the front, the Ukrainian military said the defenders in Bakhmut, Lyman, Ivanivske, Bohdanivka and Hryhorivka – all towns in the Donetsk region – have repelled 69 Russian attacks in the past day.

“Bakhmut remains the center of hostilities,” he said.

WATCH | Ukrainian told CBC News going from Realtors to defend their country:

Ukraine’s military said Russian forces were on the defensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south.

The Russian Wagner mercenary group, which led the attack on Bakhmut and has suffered heavy losses, plans to recruit some 30,000 new fighters by mid-May, its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said at the weekend.

In January, the United States estimated that Wagner had about 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, including 40,000 prisoners Prigozhin recruited from Russian prisons with the promise of pardons if they could live for six months.

Ukrainian officials say about 30,000 Wagner fighters have deserted or been killed or wounded, a figure that could not be independently verified.

Meanwhile, several European Union countries will sign an agreement on Monday in Brussels to buy unspecified 155 millimeter artillery pieces for Ukraine, with the first order possible by the end of May.

Ukraine has identified its supply of shells as critical, with both sides firing thousands of rounds a day.