Chinese President Xi Jinping will start a three-day state visit to Russia on Monday, when he’s expected to deliver a strong message of support for Vladimir Putin.
(Bloomberg) — Chinese President Xi Jinping will start a three-day state visit to Russia on Monday, when he’s expected to deliver a strong message of support for Vladimir Putin.
Xi’s trip marks his most ambitious effort yet to weigh into Europe’s bloodiest conflict since the Second World War, and will be followed by his first conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy since Russia invaded more than a year ago.
European Union foreign affairs and defense ministers will meet in Brussels to discuss the joint procurement of 155mm ammunition to support Ukraine. They’re expected to reach an agreement that would provide Kyiv with 1 million artillery rounds over the next year.
Key Developments
- Xi’s Embrace of Putin Dents His Chances as Peacemaker on Ukraine
- EU Seeks to Send Ukraine 1 Million Artillery Shells Over a Year
- Putin Makes Surprise Visit to Occupied City of Mariupol
- Japan’s Kishida Looks to Convince India to Get Tough on Russia
(All times CET)
Russia’s Medvedev, Known For Wild Threats, Issues One to ICC (8:53 a.m.)
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Kremlin’s Security Council known for his angry social-media posts and often-empty threats, warned that Russia may strike the International Criminal Court with a missile after it issued a warrant for Putin on charges of war crimes.
“It’s quite possible to imagine a targeted use of a hypersonic ‘Onyx’ from a Russian ship in the North Sea on the court building in the Hague,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram, referring to a naval anti-ship missile. “The court is just a wretched international organization, not the population of a NATO country, so they wouldn’t start a war.”
Officially, Russia has rejected the warrant against Putin as illegitimate and void. Medvedev, who was president from 2008 to 2012, has become one of the most outspokenly hawkish officials on the war in his Telegram channel, often ruminating about striking directly against the US and its allies, something the Kremlin so far has avoided.
Putin Makes Surprise Visit to Occupied Ukrainian City (8:53 a.m.)
Putin traveled by helicopter into Mariupol on the Sea of Azov in southern Donetsk province over the weekend, the Kremlin said. The Russian leader’s unannounced visit — his first since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago and later claimed to have annexed four provinces — followed an appearance in Crimea.
The Kremlin released a 40-minute video of Putin driving around Mariupol in an SUV at night in a highly classified trip. Putin was shown visiting a new apartment block, where he stood in a playground surrounded by bodyguards while an official showed him photographs of reconstruction works.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.