After a week of pressure at the United Nations general assembly, Russia’s foreign minister took the floor of the general assembly to rebuke Western nations for what he called a “grotesque” campaign against Russians. But no major nation has rallied behind Russia, including China, which just days before invading Ukraine in February had vowed an “unbreakable” bond with President Vladimir Putin. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Russia and Ukraine to “prevent the spread of the crisis” and not affect developing countries. “China supports all efforts that contribute to the peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis. The pressing priority is to facilitate peace talks,” Wang said on Saturday. “The fundamental solution is to address the legitimate security concerns of all parties and build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture.” During his visit to the United Nations, Wang met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in their first talks since the start of the war. Earlier this month, Putin acknowledged Chinese “concerns” about Ukraine during a meeting with his counterpart, Xi Jinping. US officials have been exasperated by what they see as China’s lack of concrete support for the war and have said Beijing has rejected requests to send military equipment, forcing Russia to rely on North Korea and Iran as its own supplies dwindle. China’s reaction to Russia is being watched closely for signs of its outreach to Taiwan, a self-governing republic that Beijing claims as its territory. Wang argued that China would take “strong steps” against any interference, insisting that efforts to prevent “reunification” with Taiwan would be “crushed by the wheels of history”. India, unlike China, has warm relations with the United States but has historic ties to Russia, its traditional defense supplier. “As the conflict in Ukraine continues to rage, we are often asked whose side we are on,” said India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. “Our answer, every time, is straight and honest – India is on the side of peace and will remain firmly there,” he said. “We are on the side that calls for dialogue and diplomacy as the only way out.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a press conference declined to answer whether there was pressure from China. In his speech, he tried to put the blame squarely on the West. “Official Russophobia in the West is unprecedented. Now the scope is grotesque,” Lavrov told the general assembly. “They do not hesitate to declare their intention not only to inflict military defeat on our country, but also to destroy and break Russia.” The United States, he said, has been behaving since the end of the Cold War as if it were “God’s emissary on Earth, with the sacred right to act with impunity wherever and whenever they want,” Lavrov said. He also accused the European Union of being an “authoritarian, cruel, dictatorial entity” and said the bloc’s leadership had forced the leader of one member state – Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades – to cancel a planned meeting with him. Lavrov criticized the West for not engaging with Russia, saying “we have never moved away from maintaining contact.” Western powers are considering further sanctions after Putin called in reserves and made a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons and refused to recognize the results of referendums on Russian annexation being held in the occupied territories. They welcomed Lavrov’s seclusion, noting that he appeared only at a Security Council meeting on Thursday to make remarks and not to listen to others. Russia enjoyed a rare voice of support Saturday at the general assembly. Mali’s interim prime minister, Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga, who was appointed by the coup plotters, hailed the “exemplary and fruitful cooperation” with Moscow. The junta has welcomed Russian security firm Wagner Group, despite Western allegations of rights abuses, as France withdrew troops fighting to contain a jihadist insurgency.
