China changes attitude to Russia's aggression in Ukraine – diplomat reveals why

On the air of Espreso TV’s Spotlight Ukraine programme, Ukrainian diplomat Volodymyr Yelchenko shared his opinion as to the reasons behind the change in China’s attitude to Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

“I think that after Xi Jingpin’s visit to Moscow they had a couple of agreements which the Russian leader started to break. I mean the transfer of nuclear weapons to the territory of Belarus. We know for sure that China is one of the most adamant opponents of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. And I'm pretty sure that this was one of the topics during the conversations in Moscow. President Putin just ignored the agreements which were reached in the Kremlin,” Yelchenko said.

The diplomat says that the same issues were raised during the visit of President Macron to Beijing, and Beijing calculated the consequences of supporting Russia.

China was trying to be neutral during the first year of this terrible war because it was not really sure what would be the final development. Now they can see that they will certainly find themselves on the wrong side of history, if Beijing chooses to support Russia.

The Chinese politicians are wise people, they calculated the consequences of supporting Russia very carefully. I think the final decision was made after the phone talks with President Zelenskyy,” Yelchenko pointed out.

• On May 2, China for the first time backed UN resolution calling Russia an aggressor.

• Ukraine’s former Permanent Representative to the UN, Volodymyr Yelchenko is convinced that China will never openly confront neither the West, nor Russia