MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi expressed gratitude to Beijing for its decision not to participate in a Swiss conference on Ukraine which does not take into account the actual situation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said following a meeting between the two top diplomats on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting in Nizhny Novgorod.
"Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov has expressed gratitude to Chinese partners for a balanced and consistent policy course on the crisis around Ukraine, following which Beijing made a decision not to send its representatives to the ‘peace conference’ planned in Switzerland which does not provide for Russia’s equitable participation or a fair consideration of all peace initiatives and current circumstances," the Russian diplomatic agency said.
The ministry noted that the two top diplomats gave high marks to the development of bilateral strategic partnership relations amid the growing global turbulence. "The implementation of agreements reached by the leaders of the two countries following the Beijing summit this May was discussed, including those involving the pressing issues of developing practical interaction," it added.
The Russian Foreign Ministry added that the sides held a detailed discussion of the current state and prospects of BRICS and expressed readiness to bolster mutual coordination at the UN and its Security Council, SCO, BRICS, the Group of Twenty, APEC and other key international organizations and dialogue mechanisms.
"The [two foreign] ministers held a detailed discussion of security and stability issues in the Asia-Pacific region given the policy course being pursued by the United States to set up closed anti-Russian and anti-Chinese military-political structures there," the ministry said.
The foreign policy agency stated that the conversation was traditionally trusting and constructive.