It looks like Russia and China are getting friendlier as the Ukraine invasion marks its one-year anniversary. On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry praised a position paper released by China calling for a diplomatic settlement as Russia’s “special military operation” sputters. “Conflict and war benefit no one. All parties must stay rational and exercise restraint, avoid fanning the flames and aggravating tensions, and prevent the crisis from deteriorating further or even spiraling out of control,” China asserted in the paper. In praising the paper, Russia argued Ukraine’s refusal to negotiate was preventing a peaceful resolution to the war. Ukraine and its allies have been suspicious of supposed olive branches extended by China and Russia. China has consistently refused to call the war an “invasion” while Russia’s demand for “recognition of new territorial realities” would require Ukraine to cede four illegally annexed territories as a condition for peace. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday he wanted to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
