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Anti-Russian sanctions

China won’t support economic sanctions against Russia - ambassador to UN

“Russia is a strategic partner of China,” the diplomat stressed

MOSCOW, April 25 /ITAR-TASS/. China will definitely not support economic sanctions against Russia, Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said during a special program with TV anchor Vladimir Solovyov on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

“Russia is a strategic partner of China,” the diplomat stressed. “Russia and China are two big states who are not ready to agree that the West should dictate its terms on the international arena.”

“So China will not support economic sanctions against Russia,” Churkin said. “China will definitely not back anything that is in any way aimed against Russia.”

Western countries have imposed targeted sanctions on some Russian and Crimean officials following Crimea’s reunification with Russia last month, but Moscow has responded tit for tat.

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, signed reunification deals with Russia on March 18 after a referendum two days earlier in which an overwhelming majority of Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.

The developments came after a coup in Ukraine in February, when Crimea refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new self-proclaimed Ukrainian authorities.

Russia does not recognize the new Ukrainian leadership either.

The West has threatened Russia with new economic sanctions unless Moscow changes its foreign policy.

Tags

Foreign policy Sanctions vs. Russia

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