Chinese Ambassador: China sees Russia's concern over NATO expansion as a precondition for conflict

"The threat to Russia's security comes from NATO for decades... five cycles of NATO expansion to the East pose a significant threat to Russia's security," TASS quoted him as saying.

Chaiet noted that Beijing remains neutral regarding this crisis, but the country believes that the constant supply of heavy weapons by one of the parties to the conflict "does not contribute to its speedy end."

On February 1, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning expressed Beijing's hope that NATO and Japan would not provoke a regional confrontation.

At the end of January, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the right-wing National Rally party in the French parliament, said that NATO's involvement in the Ukrainian conflict could lead to a third world war.