In China, the recent escalation in Russia was called an internal matter

The authorities of China, which is considered one of Moscow’s allied states, declared that they support Russia in preserving national stability. The comment was made the day after the demand for military mutiny, which was made by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin and mercenaries of PMC “Wagner”, founded by him and fighting in Ukraine.

On Sunday, negotiations in Beijing “on international topics” were held by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Forces of Russia Andrey Rudenko. However, it is not clear when exactly he arrived in the capital of the PRC and whether his visit was connected with the latest events surrounding Prigozhin, Reuters notes.

“The Chinese side expressed its support for the efforts of the leadership of the Russian Federation to stabilize the situation in the country in connection with the events of June 24 and confirmed its interest in strengthening the unity and further prosperity of Russia,” the state news agency TASS quotes the statement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China initially reported only that in a conversation with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gan, Rudenko exchanged views on bilateral relations, as well as on international and regional issues of mutual interest. Later, Beijing declared its support in matters of national stability, noting that the recent escalation of tensions in Russia is its internal business.

Before the information about the conversation with Andrey Rudenko, the Chinese side did not comment on the armed rebellion of Prigozhin’s mercenaries. Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking about the events, called them “a blow in the back”. Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden, said they were closely monitoring the situation.

Recently, China has shown interest in the issue of a peaceful settlement of the situation in Ukraine. In April, the leader of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, called President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since the beginning of the war. The Chinese authorities did not publicly condemn, but they did not speak in support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, cooperation between Moscow and Beijing intensified with the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In March, you visited Moscow. There were fears in the West that China might start supplying Russia with weapons for war, but there is no direct evidence of this.

• On Friday, June 23, Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian Ministry of Defense of launching a missile attack on the rear positions of the Wagnerites and announced a “justice march” to Moscow in order to bring the leadership of the defense ministry to justice. The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, called the performance of “Wagnerovtsev” treason. The FSB opened a criminal case against the founder of the PMC for inciting rebellion.
• In the evening of June 24, the press service of Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko announced his negotiations with Yevgeny Prigozhin, during which the head of the PMC allegedly agreed to stop the movement of mercenaries. Prigozhin himself did not talk about the agreement with Lukashenko. The press secretary of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said that the criminal case against Prigozhin would be dropped, and he himself would go to Belarus. Since then, the businessman’s whereabouts are unknown.