At the moment, conditions for peace have not been ensured in Ukraine, the Kremlin says

On Monday, the Kremlin recognized China’s proposal for a political solution to the war in Ukraine started by Moscow, but stated that the conditions for a peaceful resolution of the conflict “are currently not ensured”, writes “The Moscow Times”.

“We paid a lot of attention to the plan of our Chinese friends,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, adding that: “So far, we don’t see any conditions necessary to move this whole story in the direction of peace.”

China has publicly tried to position itself as a neutral country in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But in practice, Beijing is getting closer and closer to Russia. This was confirmed both by the visit of the Chinese foreign minister to Moscow last week, as well as by the peace plan proposed by Beijing, which includes such visions of the international situation that are regularly expressed by Russian propagandists and whose implementation would be much more beneficial for Russia than for Ukraine.

Russia’s foreign ministry on Friday praised China’s efforts, but said any settlement to the conflict must recognize Russia’s control over four regions of Ukraine. Russia claims to have annexed Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, but has never fully controlled them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country should work with China, saying “I think from China’s perspective our territorial integrity, security issues are being respected.” Zelensky also said that he is convinced that only a country whose territory is under attack can initiate “any peace initiatives”.

The publication of the Chinese proposal follows Western accusations that China is considering arming Russia. Beijing dismissed the claims as false.