As the diplomatic standoff between the West and Russia over Ukraine deepens, Russian President Vladimir Putin found a friendly audience in Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday, when the two leaders affirmed mutual grievances about the U.S.-led international order.<\/p>\n
The significance of Putin and Xi\u2019s meeting on the eve of the Beijing Winter Olympics was not lost on the United States, and Daniel Kritenbrink, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, said that Moscow and Beijing have grown more closely aligned. But if Russia chooses to invade Ukraine again, the move could \u201cembarrass Beijing\u201d because \u201cit suggests that China is willing to tolerate or tacitly support Russia\u2019s efforts to coerce Ukraine,\u201d he told reporters Friday.<\/p>\n
Ukraine was not mentioned in a sweeping joint document issued by Moscow and Beijing that framed their geopolitical ambitions \u2014 experts suggest the omission means China won\u2019t give potential Russian aggression a blank check \u2014 but the statement complained about U.S.-led partnerships in the Asia-Pacific.<\/p>\n
The declaration also did not mention the \u201cQuad\u201d group of democracies \u2014 the United States, Japan, India and Australia. But Kritenbrink indicated leaders of the four countries would address the Ukraine crisis at a summit later this spring \u201cgiven the seriousness of the issue and the threat it poses to the rules-based global order.\u201d<\/p>\n
The already-tense war of words between the West and Moscow escalated further Friday. Earlier this week, the Biden administration warned that Russia is considering filming a fake attack against Russian territory or Russian-speaking people by Ukrainian forces as a pretext to invade its neighbor. The resulting propaganda footage could include \u201cgraphic scenes of a staged false explosion with corpses,\u201d U.S. officials said.<\/p>\n
The allegations \u2014 which Washington has not provided substantial evidence for \u2014 have drawn fierce denials from Moscow. On Friday, the Russian Embassy in Washington released a transcript of an exchange between Ambassador Anatoly Antonov and Newsweek, in which the diplomat said the U.S. accusations could be used as an \u201calibi\u201d for a possible Western-backed military operation in Ukraine\u2019s contested Donbas region. Anti-Kyiv separatists there have the backing of Moscow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis lie is part of the information war against Russia,\u201d Antonov said, without presenting proof. \u201cWashington has been provoking the whole world for several months with statements that Ukraine is about to become a victim of \u2018Russian aggression.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent months, the Kremlin has massed more than 100,000 troops and heavy weaponry around smaller Ukraine, from which it annexed Crimea in 2014. The threat of renewed Russian aggression has prompted the West to rush military equipment to Ukraine, which is not part of NATO, and bolster troop numbers on the military alliance\u2019s eastern flank.<\/p>\n
As the United States deploys some 3,000 U.S. troops to Europe as a sign of reassurance for NATO allies, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is walking a tightrope between standing unified with Washington and navigating Berlin\u2019s close economic ties with Moscow.<\/p>\n
Scholz, who took over from the crisis-vetted Angela Merkel, is headed for the United States over the weekend and will meet President Biden on Monday. The two leaders will discuss their \u201cshared commitment to both ongoing diplomacy and joint efforts\u201d on Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. Scholz is also set to visit Kyiv and Moscow in mid February.<\/p>\n
For the new chancellor, steering his country\u2019s Russia policy has meant trying to helm a three-party coalition, negotiating with pro-Russian voices within his own party and navigating questions over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that would deepen Berlin\u2019s reliance on Moscow for energy.<\/p>\n
In a sign of close ties between senior members of Scholz\u2019s left-of-center Social Democrats and the Kremlin, former chancellor Gerhard Schr\u00f6der was nominated to join the board of Gazprom, a Russian state-owned energy giant, the company announced Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cGermany\u2019s Social Democrats have not ever come to terms with their position on Russia,\u201d Mathieu von Rohr, a prominent German foreign affairs commentator, said on a recent Atlantic Council podcast. \u201cThe German position has been weak, indecisive from my point of view, and that has been a problem for the entire Western alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Germany has been reluctant to export arms to Ukraine, much to the consternation of Kyiv, though Scholz has recently indicated that \u201call options\u201d \u2014 including the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline \u2014 are on the table for sanctions in the case of a renewed Russian invasion.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Russia continues to send forces near Ukraine\u2019s border, with the buildup increasing by 6,000 ground troops this week, according to a Ukrainian military assessment shared with the Military Times. But officials in Kyiv have said for weeks that such forces are not likely to be enough for Putin to mount a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The Kremlin continues to deny that it has plans to attack Ukraine. The Russian foreign ministry on Friday attacked Western leaders such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for issuing warnings of Russian aggression, saying that they \u201cprovoke acrid laughter and jokes \u2026 in Russia\u201d and are \u201cimpossible\u201d to take seriously, Russian news agency Tass reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the diplomatic standoff between the West and Russia over Ukraine deepens, Russian President Vladimir Putin found a friendly audience in Chinese President Xi Jinping Friday, when the two leaders affirmed mutual grievances about the U.S.-led international order. The significance of Putin and Xi\u2019s meeting on the eve of the Beijing Winter Olympics was not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18,1175,338,456,444],"class_list":{"0":"post-242744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-china","9":"tag-embarrassment","10":"tag-russia","11":"tag-ukraine","12":"tag-us"},"yoast_head":"\n