Chinese Ambassador Accuses The United States Of Being The Main Instigator Of The Russia-Ukraine War

Presiden Xi Jinping dan Presiden Vladimir Putin. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru/Presidential Press and Information Office)

JAKARTA - China's ambassador to Russia called the United States the 'main instigator' of the Ukraine war that has been going on since late February.

In an interview with Russia's state news agency TASS published on Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Hanhui accused Washington of pushing Russia into a corner with repeated expansions of the NATO defense alliance, and support for forces seeking to align Ukraine with the European Union rather than Moscow.

"As the main initiator and instigator of the Ukraine crisis, Washington, imposing unprecedented comprehensive sanctions on Russia, continues to supply Ukraine with weapons and military equipment," Zhang said.

"Their main goal is to drain and destroy Russia with a protracted war and a mace of sanctions," he continued.

The ambassador's reasoning follows one of Russia's own justifications for its invasion of Ukraine, which has resulted in thousands of deaths and the destruction of entire cities, and driven more than a quarter of the population from their homes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Beijing in February to meet with President Xi Jinping, as Russian tanks converged on the Ukrainian border, agreeing what the two countries called a 'borderless' partnership superior to which of the Cold War alliances. even.

In the interview, Zhang said China-Russia relations had entered "the best period in history, marked by the highest level of mutual trust, the highest level of interaction, and the greatest strategic importance".

In addition, he denounced US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit last week to self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own, saying the United States is trying to apply the same tactics in Ukraine and Taiwan to "revive the Cold War mentality, detain China and Russia, provoking competition and confrontation of great powers."

"Non-intervention in internal affairs is the most fundamental principle for maintaining peace and stability in our world," Zhang said, applying the principle to criticize Washington's policies regarding Taiwan, but not to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

It is known that Russia called the invasion a "special military operation" and said it was necessary, not only to maintain its own security, but also to protect Russian-speaking speakers from persecution.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and the West say this is a baseless pretext for war, imperial aggression against a neighbor that gained independence when the Moscow-led Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.