Moscow, February 21. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet tomorrow in Moscow with the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi, with whom he will discuss, among other things, the conflict in Ukraine, according to the official Russian agency TASS.
“Wang Yi has already arrived in Moscow,” a source close to the organization of the visit told state media, a point that has not yet been confirmed by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that it is not excluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin will receive Wang, who is director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a position above that of Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“We are not ruling out a meeting between Mr. Wang Yi and the president,” Peskov said, adding that “the agenda is clear and very broad, so there is something to discuss.”
Wang’s visit to the Russian capital comes as the first anniversary of the start of Russia’s war campaign in Ukraine is about to pass.
Since the outbreak of military actions, China has called for respect for “the territorial integrity of all countries”, including Ukraine, but also for attention to the “legitimate concerns of all countries”, in reference to Russia.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China on Monday that if it handed over weapons to Russia, it would have “a real problem in its relations with many other countries, not just the United States”.
“We are concerned that China is planning to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine with lethal aid, something we are watching very, very closely,” the head of US diplomacy in Ankara said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodimir Zelensky said his country was unaware that Beijing was supplying arms to Russia.