MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Moscow sees Beijing’s balanced stance on the Ukrainian issue, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.
"We are aware that Beijing makes a balanced approach to the Ukrainian issue. China has repeatedly called for respecting the principles of indivisibility of security and stressed the impermissibility of attempts to ensure regional security by expanding military blocks and the rationale of Russia’s concerns over these issues," she said.
Zakharova stressed that China did not hesitate to discuss the true role of the United States in the Ukrainian crisis. She added that China "knows better than anybody else how the United States and its allies sharing this vicious ideology" are capable of aggravating the situation in other countries "without having any special powers or reasons for doing so."
"China is certainly not a country that can be told what stance it should take. It is certainly not a country whose evaluation of political events bears any trace of somebody else’s imposed opinion," Zakharova said.
Also, she pointed out that China "avoids being misled by Western ploys."
"In relations with our Chinese friends, we proceed first and foremost from mutual respect, mutual trust, and due regard for the partners’ key interests. We appreciate Beijing’s impartial and unbiased vision of the Ukrainian issue," the diplomat said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 launched a special military operation in Ukraine following a request for assistance from the leaders of the Donbass republics. He said Moscow had no plans for occupation of Ukrainian territories. The sole purpose is the country’s demilitarization and denazification. The Russian Defense Ministry says its forces are not attacking cities. Their focus is entirely on military infrastructures. The civilian population is not in danger.