Russia-Ukraine war: China, India, at UN, call for negotiated way out
China and India called at the United Nations for a negotiated end to the Ukraine war, stopping short of robust support for traditional ally Russia.
After a week of pressure at the United Nations General Assembly, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday took the General Assembly rostrum to deliver a fiery rebuke to Western nations for what he termed a "grotesque" campaign against Russians.
But no major nation has rallied behind Russia, including China, which just days before the February invasion of Ukraine had vowed an "unbreakable" bond with President Vladimir Putin.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on both Russia and Ukraine to "keep the crisis from spilling over" and from affecting developing countries.
"China supports all efforts conducive to the peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis. The pressing priority is to facilitate talks for peace," Wang said.
"The fundamental solution is to address the legitimate security concerns of all parties and build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture."
India, unlike China, has a warm relationship with the US but it has historic ties with Russia, its traditional defense supplier.
"As the Ukraine conflict continues to rage, we are often asked whose side we are on," said India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. "Our answer, each time, is straight and honest -- India is on the side of peace and will remain firmly there," he said.
"We are on the side that calls for dialogue and diplomacy as the only way out."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a news conference declined to answer whether there has been any pressure from China. In his speech, he sought to cast blame squarely on the West, reports AFP.
"The official Russophobia in the West is unprecedented. Now the scope is grotesque," Lavrov told the General Assembly. "They are not shying away from declaring the intent to inflict not only military defeat on our country but also to destroy and fracture Russia."
The United States, he said, since the end of the Cold War has acted as if it is "an envoy of God on Earth, with the sacred right to act with impunity wherever and whenever they want".
He blasted the European Union as an "authoritarian, harsh, dictatorial entity" and said the bloc's leadership forced one member state's leader -- Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades -- to cancel a planned meeting with him.
Lavrov also sought to justify Russia's invasion of its neighbour, repeating Moscow's false claims that the elected government in Kyiv was illegitimately installed and filled with neo-Nazis, reports Reuters.
He told the news conference after his speech at the UN General Assembly that the regions where votes are underway would be under Moscow's "full protection" if they are annexed by Russia.
Asked if Russia would have grounds for using nuclear weapons to defend the annexed regions, Lavrov said Russian territory, including territory "further enshrined" in Russia's constitution in the future, "is under the full protection of the state".
Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Russia's mentions of the possible use of nuclear weapons were "absolutely unacceptable" and Kyiv would not give in to them.
In the battleground, Kyiv and Moscow yesterday traded accusations of attacks on civilians, with Ukraine's military saying that Russian forces had launched dozens of missile attacks and air strikes on military and civilian targets in the past 24 hours.
Russia used drones to attack the centre of the southern city of Odesa, Ukraine's military said. No casualties were reported.