Putin won’t stop in Ukraine
Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda yesterday warned Washington's top diplomat Antony Blinken that a failure to stop Russia's aggression in Ukraine would lead to a global conflict.
Addressing the US secretary of state as he began a tour of Baltic states, Nauseda said Russian leader Vladimir Putin "will not stop in Ukraine" and that the world had an obligation to help Ukrainians "by all means available."
"I mean indeed all means if we want to avoid the Third World War. The choice is in our hands," he said.
Nato member Lithuania has sent military aid to Ukraine and welcomed small numbers of Ukrainian refugees since Russia's invasion began on February 24. Blinken was set to visit neighboring Latvia and Estonia yesterday and today.
Belarus, which borders Lithuania and Latvia, allowed Russia to launch the assault from its territory after it had its troops stationed there for weeks under the guise of joint military exercises.
Blinken met Nauseda before talks with Lithuania's foreign minister and prime minister.
The top US diplomat earlier told staff of the US embassy in Vilnius that Russia's invasion of Ukraine challenged basic principles designed to keep the peace between nations, reports Reuters.
"It's important that people understand what's actually at stake and it goes beyond even Ukraine, beyond even the Baltic countries, beyond even Europe," Blinken said.
Meanwhile, China stressed yesterday that the friendship between Beijing and Moscow was still "rock solid", despite international condemnation of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, as Beijing said it was open to helping mediate peace.
China has refused to condemn its close ally Moscow after only last month touting a "no limits" strategic partnership between the two countries, reports AFP.
"The friendship between the two peoples is rock solid, and both sides' future cooperation prospects are very vast," said Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a press briefing during the Chinese leadership's annual political congress in Beijing.
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