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  • War Putin and Xi Grow Closer Than Ever in Age of Isolation

NATO has no evidence that China is supplying arms or ammunition to Russia to maintain the offensive on Ukraine, but it does that Moscow has officially requested it from one of the few relevant partners left on the international chessboard. This was stated on Tuesday by the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, at the press conference for the presentation of the 2022 Annual Report.

The eyes of Brussels and Washington have long been fixed on Beijing. China's ambiguous role is neither new nor surprising. On the one hand it calls for an end to hostilities from day one and claims the importance of the concept of sovereignty, but at the same time criticizes much more harshly international sanctions and the role of the United States. A year ago he said that he had no influence over Vladimir Putin, but at the same time in recent weeks, since the Munich Security Conference, he has run as a mediator, proposing to all parties a peace plan that goes through a ceasefire and withdrawal from the occupied territories in exchange for removing the sanctions that the EU and the White House have imposed.

The suspicions are many. Washington has been threatening for weeks to publish intelligence that would supposedly prove contacts at the highest level for Beijing to provide weapons to Moscow. Xi Jinping has just met with Putin for the second time, breaking the isolation of the Russian autocrat. "The meeting is part of a pattern we've seen for years whereby Russia and China are getting closer, on the economic, diplomatic and political level doing common exercises and even seeing each other just weeks before the invasion," Stoltenberg said.

The secretary general, however, has indicated that the allies "have seen indications" that this lethal aid has been requested, because although the aggressor has certain support in the General Assembly of the United Nations, small countries or dictatorships such as Syria and North Korea and Iran, he hardly has access to weapons or external ammunition. The EU has already approved sanctions on Tehran for providing drones but despite some published reports about the possible shipment of weapons or ammunition, NATO says it has not happened. "China should not provide lethal aid to Russia, that would be supporting an illegal war and would only prolong the fighting" and would have consequences, the Norwegian said. "If it wants to take peace seriously, China should start by listening and understanding Kiev's perspective and establishing contacts with President Zelensky," he said.

DELAY IN ACCESSION SWEDEN

Although last July, after the Madrid summit, NATO assumed that Sweden and Finland would soon join the Alliance, the reality is that this will be impossible. Turkey has lifted the blockade for the Finns, but maintains that of Sweden. So the process is going to split. "The important thing is that they join, not that it is at the same time. We will work hard for Sweden to do so as soon as possible. Turkey is ready to ratify Finland. I welcome this news and let us hope that it will come before the Turkish elections. In addition, the Hungarian Parliament will vote on Finland next week," said the secretary general, alluding to the other obstacle, the delay generated by Viktor Orban.

Stoltenberg has said he has "no doubt" that Sweden will be a member sooner or later, but did not dare to offer an estimate. Right now it seems very complicated that it can be so by July, when another summit will be held at the highest level in Lithuania. "It is my first priority," he said during the presentation of the report, insisting that contacts with Recep Tayyip Erdogan are constant and will remain so.

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  • China
  • Sweden
  • NATO
  • Russia
  • Finland
  • Ukraine
  • Vladimir Putin