UK plan to send ammunition with depleted uranium to Ukraine would trigger Russian response, says PutinPutin also condemned the UK for a plan to send ammunition that contains depleted uranium for use in Ukraine.
If the UK supplies ammunition with depleted uranium to Ukraine, Russia will be forced to react, the Russian leader said.
It comes after Lady Goldie, the minister of state at the UK Ministry of Defence, said Britain will be providing ammunition to Ukraine including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium.
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Vladimir Putin could visit China this year, according to Kremlin foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov.
President Xi on Monday invited the Russian leader to visit China this year, extending the invitation during a meeting today with the Russian prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin.
China is ‘impartial’ in Ukraine conflict, says Xi after ‘friendly’ talks with PutinXi Jinping, speaking at the joint news conference with Putin, said Beijing had an “impartial position” on the conflict in Ukraine and that it supported peace and dialogue, Russian state media reported.
Xi, who was speaking through a translator, said talks with Putin had been “open and friendly”.
The two leaders stressed that “responsible dialogue” is the best way to steadily solve the Ukraine crisis, Chinese state media reported.
Chinese state media reported that the Russian side reaffirmed its commitment to resuming peace talks as soon as possible.
The two sides pointed out that to resolve the Ukraine crisis, the “legitimate security concerns” of all countries must be respected and that confrontation between camps should be avoided, Chinese state media reported.
Putin, speaking at the joint news conference with President Xi, said Beijing’s proposal to end the Ukraine conflict could be the basis for a peaceful settlement – when the west is ready for it.
The Russian leader described talks with his Chinese counterpart as “successful and constructive” and said they showed Beijing was clearly now Moscow’s most economic partner. He said:
I am convinced that our multi-faceted cooperation will continue to develop for the good of the peoples of our countries.
Here are some of the latest images we have received from the news wires of today’s talks between Russian and Chinese delegations, led by President Putin and President Xi, at the Kremlin.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and China’s president, Xi Jinping, enter a hall during a meeting at the Kremlin. Photograph: Alexey Maishev/SPUTNIK/AFP/Getty ImagesPutin, Xi and members of both delegations hold a meeting at the Kremlin. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/SPUTNIK/AFP/Getty ImagesPutin, flanked by foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and deputy prime minister, Tatyana Golikova, gestures during the meeting. Photograph: Alexey Maishev/SPUTNIK/AFP/Getty ImagesPresident Xi attends Russia-China talks in an expanded format at the Kremlin in Moscow. Photograph: SPUTNIK/ReutersUK plan to send ammunition with depleted uranium to Ukraine would trigger Russian response, says PutinPutin also condemned the UK for a plan to send ammunition that contains depleted uranium for use in Ukraine.
If the UK supplies ammunition with depleted uranium to Ukraine, Russia will be forced to react, the Russian leader said.
It comes after Lady Goldie, the minister of state at the UK Ministry of Defence, said Britain will be providing ammunition to Ukraine including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium.
Many points of Chinese ‘peace’ plan for Ukraine ‘correlate to Russian point of view’, says PutinPutin said he and Xi “spent a lot of time” and “put a lot of attention” discussing Beijing’s plan to end the conflict in Ukraine.
Putin, speaking at a news conference after talks with China’s president Xi, said:
We believe that many points of the Chinese peace plan correlate to the point of view of the Russian Federation and many of these points can be adopted in the west and in Kyiv.
Russia-China relations ‘at their highest point in history’, says Putin after talks with XiVladimir Putin has been speaking at a news conference after talks with Xi Jinping, where he says the pair have signed statements that “fully reflect the nature of Russia-China relations”, which he described as being at “their highest point” in the “whole history of our two countries”.
Russia and China are “tied together” and enjoy “good neighbourly relations”, he said, adding that Moscow was in “constant contact” with Beijing.
This allows us to find, even in most complex situations, solutions to the problems and we are able to discuss all current international issues.
Putin and Xi sign joint statements on ‘Russia-China strategic cooperation’Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, have finished formal talks at the Kremlin, and are signing documents on strategic cooperation, Russian state media are reporting.
The pair signed a joint statement “deepening the two countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era”, Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign affairs ministry, said.
Xi and Putin “stressed that the Ukraine crisis should be settled through peace talks”, she said.
Hua added:
On the Ukraine issue, the two sides believe the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be observed and international law respected. Russia speaks positively of China’s objective and impartial position on the Ukraine issue.
The two sides oppose the practice by any country or group of countries to seek advantages in the military, political and other areas to the detriment of the legitimate security interests of other countries.
President Xi and President Putin signed a joint statement at the Kremlin on deepening the two countries’ comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era. They stressed that the Ukraine crisis should be settled through peace talks.
— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) March 21, 2023On the Ukraine issue, the two sides believe the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be observed and international law respected. Russia speaks positively of China’s objective and impartial position on the Ukraine issue.
— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) March 21, 2023The two sides oppose the practice by any country or group of countries to seek advantages in the military, political and other areas to the detriment of the legitimate security interests of other countries.
— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) March 21, 2023Russia and China should push for further cooperation, says XiChina’s president, Xi Jinping, told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that the two countries should work more closely to push forward greater “practical cooperation” during formal talks at the Kremlin.
Xi, speaking on the second day of his state visit to Moscow, told Putin:
The early harvest of (our) cooperation can be seen, and further cooperation is being advanced.
Russia is ready to help Chinese businesses replace western companies that have left Russia over the Ukraine conflict, Putin told Xi.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, meets China’s president, Xi Jinping, at the Kremlin. Photograph: Sergei Karpukhin/SPUTNIK/AFP/Getty ImagesThe pair had discussed the proposed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which would ship Russian gas to China, Putin said. The planned pipeline would deliver 50bn cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year from Russia to China via Mongolia.
Putin told Xi:
I am convinced that our multi-faceted cooperation will continue to develop for the good of the peoples of our countries.
Talks between the two leaders have now finished, Russian state-owned Tass news agency has reported.
Russia condemns British plan to send depleted uranium ammunition to UkraineRussia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned a British plan to send ammunition that contains depleted uranium for use in Ukraine.
Foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, wrote on her Telegram channel that this was the “Yugoslav scenario”, saying: “These shells not only kill, but infect the environment and cause cancer in people living on these lands.”
Zakharova went on to say:
By the way, it is naive to believe that only those against whom all this will be used will become victims. In Yugoslavia, Nato soldiers, in particular the Italians, were the first to suffer. Then they tried for a long time to get compensation from Nato for lost health. But their claims were denied.
When will they wake up in Ukraine? I’m not talking about addicts on Bankovaya [the street in Kyiv that houses the presidential office]. But about those who are still able to think. Their benefactors poison them.
Zakharova was responding to the answer to a written statement on Monday in the House of Lords, where crossbench hereditary peer Lord Hylton asked “whether any of the ammunition currently being supplied to Ukraine contains depleted uranium”.
In reply, Lady Goldie, minister of State at the Ministry of Defence, stated: “Alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium. Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles.”
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that the city of Chasiv Yar has been targeted today. It wrote on its official Telegram channel:
On 21 March, the Russian military shelled Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut. As a result of the shelling, more than two dozen buildings were damaged – more than 10 private, high-rise buildings, and a school, Serhii Chaus, head of the city military administration of Chasiv Yar, told Suspilne.
The claims have not been independently verified.