The autocratic leaders of Russia and China will meet

 

The autocratic leaders of Russia and China will meet next week in Moscow, officials from both countries confirmed Friday. Russia's Vladimir Putin is eyeing a "comprehensive partnership and strategic co-operation," according to Russian officials; and China's Xi Jinping is looking to "play a constructive role in promoting talks for peace" when it comes to Putin's Ukraine invasion, which has been ongoing now for 387 days.

One year ago, the two men vowed their friendship had "no limits." This year, Moscow says they'll sign documents declaring their relationship is entering a "new era," Agence France-Presse reports.


Remember that China recently released a 12-point "plan for peace" in Ukraine; but that plan very deliberately makes no mention of Ukraine's sovereignty or Russia withdrawing from occupied territories. 

 

From the United States perspective, a Chinese-brokered ceasefire now would be "effectively a ratification of Russian conquest," John Kirby of the White House's National Security Council said Friday in a phone call with reporters. "It would, in effect, recognize Russia's gains and its attempt to conquer its neighbor's territory by force…Russia would be free then to use a ceasefire to only further entrench their positions in Ukraine, to rebuild [and] refit," he warned.