In their statement, the chief diplomats of the group of seven leading industrialized countries positioned themselves clearly against China, whose “expansive claims” and “militarization activities” in the South China Sea they denounced. Their warning against supporting the Russian war in Ukraine was probably also directed at Beijing.
Beijing and Moscow had recently intensified their contacts. Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu was in the Russian capital on Tuesday. In his own words, he wanted to demonstrate his government’s “determination” there to strengthen ties with Russia. The G7 final declaration was labeled “malicious slander” by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The G7 foreign ministers also criticized Russia’s announcement that it would station nuclear weapons in Belarus as “unacceptable”. “While Ukraine prepares for a counter-offensive to take back their country (…), we stand behind Ukraine,” said US chief diplomat Antony Blinken.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin on Monday visited the Kherson and Luhansk regions for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began almost 14 months ago. Putin met the soldiers stationed there and held talks with the commanders about the situation on several fronts, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
Putin brought congratulations and icons to Russian forces in Kherson and Luhansk on the occasion of the Orthodox Easter celebrated on Sunday, it said.
“The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has visited the headquarters of the General Staff of the military unit ‘Dnipro’ in the Kherson region,” the Kremlin said. Putin spoke with the commander of the Russian Air Force, Mikhail Teplinksi, and other high-ranking military officials about the situation in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.
Footage circulated by the Kremlin showed Putin disembarking from a helicopter in the Kherson region and visiting the headquarters of the General Staff of the Dnipro military unit. There he listened to the report of the commander of the Russian Air Force, Mikhail Teplinksi, on the situation in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.
According to the Kremlin, the Russian President also visited the headquarters of the National Guard in Luhansk. “It is important to me to hear your opinion on the situation, to listen to you, to exchange information,” Putin said in a video released by the Kremlin.
In September 2022, Russia declared Cherson and Luhansk and two other Ukrainian regions annexed. However, these regions are only partially controlled by the Russian troops. In November, the Russian army withdrew from the city of Cherson, capital of the region of the same name, and retreated to the other side of the Dnipro River.
In March, Putin paid a visit to the Crimean Peninsula, which has been annexed by Russia since 2014. He then traveled on to the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, which was besieged by the Russian army for months last year and captured in May 2022.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the heavily contested city of Avdiivka on the eastern Ukrainian front. As the presidential office in Kiev announced on Tuesday, the head of state met soldiers at “advanced positions” in the city and wished them a happy Easter.
The meeting took place near the city of Donetsk, which was occupied by Russian troops. Photos showed Zelenskyy sitting with soldiers at a table with Easter biscuits.
