Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to halt expansion during a meeting on Friday as the Beijing Winter Olympics begin. starts.
The appeal was made public in a joint statement released by the Moscow Kremlin.
The summit of the two leaders, held on the day of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, marked another step in what has become an increasingly close partnership between Beijing and Moscow as relations with the West deteriorate. for both.
According to an English version of the union communiqué released by the Kremlin, the two countries “believe that certain states, military and political alliances and coalitions seek to obtain, directly or indirectly, unilateral military advantages at the expense of the security of others.”
Russia and China also “oppose further NATO enlargement and urge the North Atlantic Alliance to abandon its Cold War ideological approaches, to respect the sovereignty, security and interests of other countries, the diversity of its civilizational, cultural and historical origins, and to exercise a fair and objective attitude towards the peaceful development of other states,” the Kremlin statement said.
A reading by Chinese state media Xinhua said the two leaders “had a thorough and thorough exchange of views on China-Russia relations and a number of important issues related to international strategic security and stability,” but made no direct mention of the nato.
Agreement for gas supply
Russia has signed a 30-year contract to supply China with gas via a new pipeline and will settle the new gas sales in euros, bolstering an energy alliance with Beijing amid Moscow’s strained ties to the West over Ukraine and other questions.
The 30-year deal was signed on Friday and provides for deliveries of 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year to China’s state-owned energy company CNPC, the Russian company and an industry official in Beijing said.
The first flows through the pipeline, which will connect Russia’s Far East region to northeast China, are expected to start in two to three years. Russia already sends gas to China through its “Power of Siberia” pipeline, which started pumping supplies in 2019, and shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Since its inception, Russia has already exported 16.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to China in 2021. The “Power of Siberia” network is not connected to pipelines that send gas to Europe, which has faced price increases. of gas due to tight supplies, one of several points of tension with Moscow.
According to previously drawn up plans, Russia intended to supply China with 38 bcm of gas per pipeline by 2025.
The new deal, which coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Beijing Winter Olympics, would add another 10 bcm, boosting sales of Russian pipelines under long-term contracts to China. Gazprom gave few details about the deal in its announcement.
*With information from Reuters
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
