Putin and Xi call for halt to Nato expansion amid Ukraine tensions

Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have shown a united front on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics as the two countries issued a joint statement calling for Nato to halt its expansion amid rising tensions over Ukraine.

The Kremlin said the two leaders held warm and substantive talks in Beijing and described the relationship as an advanced partnership with a special character.

Mr Putin’s presence makes him the highest-profile guest at the Beijing Games following the decision by the US, UK, and other western nations not to send officials in protest of China’s rights abuses and its treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

The Russian president also unveiled a major new gas deal with China, a further sign of the deepening of the relationship between the two neighbours at a time of high tension in their relations with the west.

The two countries expressed concern about “the advancement of US plans to develop global missile defence and deploy its elements in various regions of the world, combined with capacity building of high-precision non-nuclear weapons for disarming strikes and other strategic objectives”.

They said they opposed further enlargement of US-led Nato and called on the alliance to abandon its “ideologised Cold War approaches”.

A build-up of more than 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine has fuelled western fears that Moscow is poised to invade its neighbour. Russia has denied planning an offensive.

A halt to Nato’s eastwards addition of new member states is a key demand of the Kremlin in its standoff with the west over Ukraine. The US has rejected some of Moscow’s key proposals but said it is willing to discuss other topics such as arms control.

China supports Russia’s proposals to create legally binding security guarantees in Europe, the joint statement said.

The Kremlin said the presidents also discussed the need to broaden trade in national currencies because of unpredictability surrounding the use of the dollar.

The US president, Joe Biden, has said Russian companies could be cut off from the ability to trade in dollars as part of sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine.

In the joint statement, Moscow said it fully supported Beijing’s stance on Taiwan and opposed Taiwanese independence in any form.

“The Russian side reaffirms its support for the One-China principle, confirms that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and opposes any forms of independence of Taiwan,” it said.

Reuters / AP