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Russia, China agree that any meetings on Ukraine without Moscow futile — Lavrov

Moscow is grateful to Beijing for its unbiased and balanced position on Ukraine as well as for the willingness to play a positive role in resolving the crisis by political and diplomatic means, the Russian top diplomat said

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/TASS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi

© Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/TASS

BEIJING, April 9. /TASS/. Russia and China agreed that any meetings on Ukraine ignoring Moscow’s interests are futile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

"We discussed the current situation around the Ukraine crisis," Lavrov said. "We and our Chinese colleagues supported the conclusion that any international meetings that <…> ignore Russia’s position while promoting the <…> so called peace formula of [Ukrainian leader Vladimir] Zelensky and are therefore disconnected from reality are futile," he added.

Moscow is grateful to Beijing for its unbiased and balanced position on Ukraine as well as for the willingness to play a positive role in resolving the crisis by political and diplomatic means, Lavrov said.

Commenting on the 12-point peace initiative on Ukraine proposed by China last year, Russia’s top diplomat lauded the plan for addressing the root causes behind the Ukraine conflict, "primarily in the context of ensuring indivisible security, including in Europe and the world over."

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Ukraine crisis Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov China

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