Ursula von der Leyen asked Xi Jinping to convince Putin to stop the war in Ukraine

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated on Monday, at the end of a tripartite meeting in Paris with the Chinese President Xi Jinping and the French President Emmanuel Macron, that the European Union relies on China so that it uses its influence next to Russia in this way so as to convince Moscow not to continue the war in Ukraine, AFP and Reuters report.

“We are counting on China to use its full influence alongside Russia to stop Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” indicated the head of the community executive in a statement given to the press.

“President Xi has played an important role in de-escalating Russia’s irresponsible nuclear threats and I am confident that he will continue” to play this role, Ursula von der Leyen added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced earlier on Monday that he had ordered military exercises for the use of tactical nuclear weapons to be carried out in the near future, exercises that will mainly involve troops stationed near Ukraine and which are Russia’s reaction to the declarations to some Western leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, regarding a possible deployment of NATO soldiers to Ukraine.

Ursula von der Leyen also asked Xi Jinping to make “more efforts to limit the delivery to Russia of dual-use (civilian and military) equipment that is found on the battlefield” in Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last Monday that while China does not supply Russia with arms and ammunition, it does provide “incalculable support” to Russia’s military industry by selling microelectronics, machine tools and optics products.

Publisher: CLB

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