Interview with Vladimir Putin to the Chinese Xinhua Agency

Hello ATS!

Tomorrow Putin leaves for his first official visit since his inauguration. This visit is expected - to China. Tonight he gave an interview to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, in which he touched on many aspects of Russian-Chinese relations and geopolitical events.

The full interview can be found on the Kremlin website. It is still in Russian, but interested users can run it through Google Translator.

I want to give excerpts from the interview that I think might interest you. So...

"Question: How do you assess the cooperation between China and Russia within the framework of BRICS, the SCO and other multilateral mechanisms? What role, in your opinion, does the interaction of the two countries play in the international arena in terms of helping to build a community with a common destiny for mankind?

Answer: The Earth is the cradle of humanity, our common home, and we are all its equal inhabitants. I am sure this point of view is shared by most people on the planet. However, countries that consider themselves to be part of the so-called golden billion do not seem to think so. The US-led Western elites refuse to respect civilizational and cultural diversity and reject traditional values that have been formed over centuries. In an attempt to maintain their global dominance, they arrogated to themselves the right to tell other nations with whom they can be friends and cooperate, and with whom they cannot. They are denied the right to choose their own development models. Their sovereign interests are not taken into account. As in past times, they strive to ensure their well-being at the expense of other states, resorting to neo-colonial methods for this.

Naturally, this state of affairs does not suit either Russia or its partners. With our active participation, multilateral associations and mechanisms, independent of the West, have been created and are successfully functioning, the basis of which is the principles of equality, justice, openness, respect and mutual consideration of each other’s interests.

Convincing examples of such mutually beneficial cooperation are the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, which have firmly established themselves as key pillars of the emerging multipolar world order. They have become authoritative, dynamically developing international platforms, within which their participants build constructive interaction in politics, security, economics, and also in the humanitarian sphere. This is evidenced by the growing interest of other states in the activities of these associations and the growth in the number of their participants.

Our countries have similar or coinciding positions on key issues on the international agenda. We stand for the supremacy of international law, for equal, indivisible, comprehensive and sustainable security at both the global and regional levels, with the central coordinating role of the UN. And we reject the West’s attempts to impose an order based on lies and hypocrisy, on mythical rules invented by someone unknown.

Question: China has been making active efforts to achieve a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis from the very beginning. On April 16, during a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Chinese President Xi Jinping formulated four principles for the peaceful resolution of the crisis in Ukraine. On February 24, 2023, China published a position paper on a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. How do you assess China's position and efforts on this issue?

Vladimir Putin: We positively assess China’s approaches to resolving the Ukrainian crisis. Beijing is well aware of its root causes and global geopolitical significance, which is reflected in the 12-point plan “China’s Position on the Political Resolution of the Ukrainian Crisis,” published in February 2023. The ideas and proposals recorded in the document indicate the sincere desire of our Chinese friends to help stabilize the situation.

As for the additional four principles of conflict resolution recently expressed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, they organically complement the mentioned plan. The realistic and constructive steps proposed by Beijing - to achieve peace through the renunciation of the pursuit of selfish interests and the constant increase in tensions, through minimizing the negative impact of the conflict on the global economy and the stability of global industrial supply chains - develop ideas about the need to overcome the Cold War mentality, the indivisibility of security, respect for norms of international law and the UN Charter in their entirety and interrelation. And therefore could be the basis of a political-diplomatic process that would take into account Russia’s security concerns and contribute to the establishment of long-term and sustainable peace.”

Continued below...

“Unfortunately, these initiatives do not find support either in Ukraine or among its Western patrons. They are not ready for an equal, honest and open dialogue based on mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests. They do not want to discuss the root causes, the origins of the current crisis in planet, one of the dramatic manifestations of which was the situation around Ukraine. Why? Because it was their policies in previous years and decades that led to the current global upheavals.

Instead, Western elites are persistently trying to “punish” Russia, isolate and weaken it, and supply the Kyiv authorities with money and weapons. Almost 16 thousand unilateral illegitimate sanctions were imposed against our country. They are threatening to dismember our country. They are illegally trying to appropriate our foreign assets. They turn a blind eye to the revival of Nazism, to Ukraine carrying out terrorist acts on our territory.

We want a comprehensive, sustainable and just resolution to this conflict through peaceful means. And we are open to dialogue on Ukraine, but these must be negotiations that take into account the interests of all countries involved in this conflict, including our interests. Coupled with a serious conversation about global stability, about security guarantees both for the opposing side and, of course, for Russia. Moreover, these must be reliable guarantees. And the main problem is precisely the reliability of any guarantees, since we are dealing with states whose ruling circles prefer a world order not based on international law, but a “rules-based order,” which they constantly talk about, but which no one has seen , with which no one agreed and which, apparently, change depending on the current political situation and the interests of those who come up with them.

Russia is ready for negotiations; moreover, we conducted these negotiations. On April 15, 2022, in Istanbul, together with the Ukrainian delegation, we prepared a draft of a future peace agreement, taking into account the requirements of the Ukrainian delegation, including on ensuring the security of Ukraine in the future. Moreover, the head of the Ukrainian delegation initialed the main provisions of the draft document. Our Western partners convinced us that it was necessary to create conditions for the final approval and signing of this agreement. And the main thing is to withdraw Russian troops from the capital of Ukraine - from Kyiv. We did it. However, instead of signing a peace agreement, the Ukrainian side unexpectedly announced the termination of negotiations. As Ukrainian officials later stated, this was also because their Western allies recommended that they continue hostilities and work with them to achieve the strategic defeat of Russia. We have never refused negotiations."

Once again, those who wish can read the entire interview in translation using my link. It touches on many issues and, in my opinion, is very interesting.

Thank you.

a reply to: RussianTroll

In an attempt to maintain their global dominance, they arrogated to themselves the right to tell other nations with whom they can be friends and cooperate, and with whom they cannot. They are denied the right to choose their own development models. Their sovereign interests are not taken into account. As in past times, they strive to ensure their well-being at the expense of other states, resorting to neo-colonial methods for this.

Sums up russia quite well. Why do you think so many ex soviet states joined NATO, including Ukraine (pending). It's not hard to figure out.

originally posted by: Hakaiju
a reply to: RussianTroll

In an attempt to maintain their global dominance, they arrogated to themselves the right to tell other nations with whom they can be friends and cooperate, and with whom they cannot. They are denied the right to choose their own development models. Their sovereign interests are not taken into account. As in past times, they strive to ensure their well-being at the expense of other states, resorting to neo-colonial methods for this.

Sums up russia quite well. Why do you think so many ex soviet states joined NATO, including Ukraine (pending). It's not hard to figure out.

Decades of having your resources taken tends to leave a sour taste. Can't imagine why a nation would take steps to ensure their continued independence.

a reply to: Hakaiju

Only 3 former Soviet republics joined NATO. This was the choice of their elites. The elites are happy, but their peoples are dying out, economies are stagnating, and the standard of living has fallen below the baseboard. This is the reality.

a reply to: RussianTroll

I hear he's having to go by train as he's to scared to travel by plane, he thinks someone might do a 'Prigozhin' on him, and blow him out of the sky.

a reply to: RussianTroll
This isn't off toipic as it's in your opening post....

they are illegally trying to appropriate our foreign assets. They turn a blind eye to the revival of Nazism

Turning a blind eye to Nazism, I think Putin already knew about that from his own experience in Russia.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Everything is very simple. Putin stopped the West's robbery of our resources. That's why the West is so angry. And this is a manifestation of our independence.

originally posted by: RussianTroll
a reply to: Bluntone22

Everything is very simple. Putin stopped the West's robbery of our resources. That's why the West is so angry. And this is a manifestation of our independence.

What robbery by the west?? Putins the 'stick up kid' here, stealing land and threatening to nuke us all if we try to help stop him seizing Ukraine.
And now he's got to go running to Xi with cap in hand for more supplies.
Is he also going to tell Uncle Xi about his mean old military commanders who can't do their jobs properly??

a reply to: Kurokage

Don't bother.. it's a waste of time

a reply to: RussianTroll

Your avatar is beautiful. Have another one.
twitter.com...

a reply to: RussianTroll

Why would Soviet republics have elites?

So thats how communism worked.

Oh dear.