The Russian president has held a major press conference concluding a four-day visit with his Chinese counterpart and numerous world leaders
Russian President Vladimir Putin has concluded his four-day visit to China. Ahead of his departure on Wednesday, he held a major Q&A session, speaking to the media on a broad range of topics, including bilateral ties with Beijing, the potential settlement of the Ukraine conflict, international security architecture.
Here are the key takeaways from the press conference:
‘Very useful’ visit
The visit, which was the longest foreign trip for the Russian leader since 2014, combined multiple high-profile events and informal meetings with different leaders. Putin said the format had proven to be “very useful,” not only “good for meeting at the negotiating table but, more importantly, for holding many informal discussions on any issue of mutual interest in an informal and friendly atmosphere.”
“So, when we planned my visit, we did it so as to avoid moving a long distance many times. I would like to remind you that the schedule included the SCO summit, a trilateral Russia-Mongolia-China meeting, and a visit to the People’s Republic of China proper,” Putin told reporters.
China and Russia have reached an agreement on the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, concluding years of talks on the major project, Putin said. The resulting deal on the 50 billion cubic meter per year pipeline has left everyone “satisfied” and “pleased,” according to the Russian president.
“This is not charity – we’re talking about mutually beneficial agreements based on market principles,” he stressed.
End of Ukraine conflict in sight?
The potential settlement of the enduring conflict between Russia and Ukraine might have drawn closer thanks to the position of the US, Putin said. President Donald Trump and his administration appear to have a “genuine desire to find the solution,” he noted.
“I think there is a certain light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s see how the situation develops. If not, then we will have to achieve all the goals set before us by force,” the Russian president said.
West shifting responsibility for Ukraine conflict
Asked about recent hostile remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who called the Russian president a “war criminal,” Putin said it was merely a part of the strategy to shift western responsibility for the Ukraine conflict.
“I think that [Merz’s remark] was an unsuccessful attempt to absolve himself, maybe not himself personally, but his country and the collective West… of the responsibility for the tragedy that is currently unfolding in Ukraine,” Putin stated, adding that the Western European nations have been pushing the situation towards an armed conflict for a decade by “completely ignoring Russia’s security interests.”
The Russian president reiterated his readiness to meet Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. However, he once again underlined Moscow’s concern that Zelensky lacks legitimacy and questioned whether meeting him would actually be “meaningful.”
“It’s a path to nowhere, to just meet, let’s put it carefully, the de-facto head of the [Ukrainian] administration. It’s possible, I’ve never refused to if such a meeting is well-prepared and would lead to some potential positive results,” Putin said. “If Zelensky is ready, he can come to Moscow, and such a meeting will take place.”
On security guarantees
Putin dismissed rumors of discussions about “security guarantees” for Ukraine in exchange for ceding territories it claims as its own. The territorial issue was never the priority for Moscow, the Russian leader said. The special military operation has been a fight for “human rights, for the right of the people who live in these territories to speak their native tongue and live according to their culture and traditions,” the president stressed.
“Security guarantees are natural, I often talk about this. We proceed from the fact that any country should have these guarantees and a security system, and Ukraine is no exception. But this is not connected with any exchanges, especially with territorial exchanges,” Putin explained.
The desperate search for a “Russian footprint” in the murder of Ukrainian politician Andrey Parubiy is a symptom of terminal self-delusion
Power and truth are not natural allies. Indeed, every person and institution – be it a government, a company, a university, or a “think tank” – tends to lie more as they become more powerful. And those who stay weak – have no illusions – must lie, too. Otherwise they’d get trampled even worse by the powerful. The truth may well set us free, as Christ told us. But then, hardly anyone is free in this world.
Yet there are real differences. Differences that matter. For instance, with regard to the question of who you can trust a little more or should trust even less. Not to speak of another, often crucial issue: Who can one support or be in solidarity with, even if usually only conditionally?
One thing should be clear to anyone not perma-brainwashed out of their mind: The worst – by far – spreader of propaganda, disinformation, fake news, call it what you wish, is the West. Easily, hands down, no contest.
Examples to illustrate this simple fact so little acknowledged – in the West, that is – could be adduced ad infinitum and over centuries. From, say, selling the bloody sacking of a fellow Christian capital in 1204 as a “fourth crusade,” to spreading “free trade” and “civilization” by waging a campaign of war and opiate mass poisoning on the oldest empire and civilization around in the mid-nineteenth century, to “liberating” Libya from a functioning state, decent standards of living, and, really, a future in 2011.
It makes sense that George Orwell was English and had served the British Empire as a lowly enforcer among its victims in what we now call the Global South: No one competes with the sheer, habitual, deeply ingrained “Orwellianism” of the West. Its most recent – but certainly not the last – horrific peak performance is, of course, co-perpetrating the Gaza genocide with Israel and calling it yet another fight against “terror” or “self-defense,” while smearing those who resist as “antisemites” and “terrorists.”
There is an aspect of this intense and unremitting Western addiction to lying that should not be overlooked because it plays a key role in making Western disinformation so persistently toxic: The West never acknowledges, corrects, or regrets its fake news, at least not while doing so would still make a difference.
Bewailing, for instance, the “mistake” – really, enormous crime – of the Vietnam War? Maybe, a little, if there’s a self-pitying (Rambo I, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket) or squarely delusional (Rambo II) movie in it that sells.
Admitting, on the other hand, that the “Maidan Sniper Massacre” of 2014 was a mass-murderous false-flag operation conducted by ruthless Ukrainian nationalists and fascists, such as, prominently, the recently assassinated Andrey Parubiy? Definitely not. Never mind the painstakingly detailed, conclusive studies of Ukrainian-Canadian scholar Ivan Katchanovski, which are easily available as an open-access book from one of the world’s most reputable academic publishers.
Because if the West were to recognize this fact, a keystone of the edifice of lies erected to justify its cynical and devastating use of Ukraine in a failed proxy war against Russia would crumble: the silly conceit that the regime change operation of 2014 was “democratic,”“from below,” and soaked in national “dignity.” Instead we’d have to face the reality of subversion, manipulation, and the betrayal of a nation to the West’s geopolitics, which is mercilessly cruel as well as bunglingly incompetent.
And then, what next: Admitting that Russia was indeed provoked, for over three decades? That the Ukrainian far right is powerful and dangerous: a hotchpotch of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and assorted other fascists which the West has “normalized” and armed beyond their wildest dreams? That Ukraine’s leader Vladimir Zelensky is a corrupt authoritarian with a dependency problem?
Recently, we have been going through two campaigns of disinformation, which may look unrelated but both of them serve the West’s ceaseless propaganda assault on Russia and its relentless stirring up of war hysteria at home: The de facto autocrat and US viceroy of the European Union, unelected and eternally scandal-plagued Ursula von der Leyen has caused a mainstream media frenzy by claiming that her plane was attacked by Russian GPS jamming. In Ukraine, after the killing of Andrey Parubiy, the authorities initially leaked silly hints trying to blame the assassination on – you know what’s coming – Russia, Russia, Russia.
By now, only days after their emergence, both these fake news stories are collapsing. Apprehended, the man who executed Andrey Parubiy on a side street of Lviv’s Stepan Bandera Boulevard has explained his motive in a first court hearing: retaliation. Mikhail Stselnikov, who lived in Lviv like Parubiy, wanted to punish a member of Ukraine’s political establishment for the catastrophic policies that, among other things, led to his son going MIA and most likely dying in one of the most senseless battles of a senseless war, namely in Bakhmut.
As acute observers have pointed out immediately, in Ukraine and beyond it, this turn of the Parubiy case must be extremely unwelcome to the Kiev regime. After its daft default attempt to scapegoat Russia, it is now obvious that the real story is about how many Ukrainians have had enough of their leadership selling out their country and lives to the West. That fact alone is something the regime could, if it wished, learn from opinion polls. What the killing of Andrey Parubiy adds is a sense of how far those very disenchanted Ukrainians may now be ready to go to liberate themselves or, at least, get payback.
And Ursula’s pernicious plane prank panic? Another infowar dud. It turns out that Fightradar24, a generally acknowledged, reliable flight tracker has data that debunks the whole tale. In detail, too: The GPS signal was not jammed, the flight lasted only minimally longer than scheduled, and, so, the whole narrative spread by the EU, Western mainstream propaganda outlets, and NATO is humbug, nonsense, bull.
The West is a place that constantly makes up transparent lies and almost never takes them back, even when they have been exposed. That goes with its toxic tendency to believe in its own stories: it’s a land not only of deception but confusion.
But then again, even in the rare instance when the West (quietly) drops one of its stupid tall tales – such as that Russia had nothing better to do than detonate one of its prime assets, the Nord Stream pipelines – the truth won’t emerge. Instead one lie replaces another. No matter if the two aren’t even consistent with each other.
In that sad sense, maybe it doesn’t really matter anymore if the West will ever, finally make an effort to stop lying. Come to think of it, probably quite a few things the West may or may not do are not very important anymore. And that’s the only good news here.
The desperate search for a “Russian footprint” in the murder of Ukrainian politician Andrey Parubiy is a symptom of terminal self-delusion
Power and truth are not natural allies. Indeed, every person and institution – be it a government, a company, a university, or a “think tank” – tends to lie more as they become more powerful. And those who stay weak – have no illusions – must lie, too. Otherwise they’d get trampled even worse by the powerful. The truth may well set us free, as Christ told us. But then, hardly anyone is free in this world.
Yet there are real differences. Differences that matter. For instance, with regard to the question of who you can trust a little more or should trust even less. Not to speak of another, often crucial issue: Who can one support or be in solidarity with, even if usually only conditionally?
One thing should be clear to anyone not perma-brainwashed out of their mind: The worst – by far – spreader of propaganda, disinformation, fake news, call it what you wish, is the West. Easily, hands down, no contest.
Examples to illustrate this simple fact so little acknowledged – in the West, that is – could be adduced ad infinitum and over centuries. From, say, selling the bloody sacking of a fellow Christian capital in 1204 as a “fourth crusade,” to spreading “free trade” and “civilization” by waging a campaign of war and opiate mass poisoning on the oldest empire and civilization around in the mid-nineteenth century, to “liberating” Libya from a functioning state, decent standards of living, and, really, a future in 2011.
It makes sense that George Orwell was English and had served the British Empire as a lowly enforcer among its victims in what we now call the Global South: No one competes with the sheer, habitual, deeply ingrained “Orwellianism” of the West. Its most recent – but certainly not the last – horrific peak performance is, of course, co-perpetrating the Gaza genocide with Israel and calling it yet another fight against “terror” or “self-defense,” while smearing those who resist as “antisemites” and “terrorists.”
There is an aspect of this intense and unremitting Western addiction to lying that should not be overlooked because it plays a key role in making Western disinformation so persistently toxic: The West never acknowledges, corrects, or regrets its fake news, at least not while doing so would still make a difference.
Bewailing, for instance, the “mistake” – really, enormous crime – of the Vietnam War? Maybe, a little, if there’s a self-pitying (Rambo I, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket) or squarely delusional (Rambo II) movie in it that sells.
Admitting, on the other hand, that the “Maidan Sniper Massacre” of 2014 was a mass-murderous false-flag operation conducted by ruthless Ukrainian nationalists and fascists, such as, prominently, the recently assassinated Andrey Parubiy? Definitely not. Never mind the painstakingly detailed, conclusive studies of Ukrainian-Canadian scholar Ivan Katchanovski, which are easily available as an open-access book from one of the world’s most reputable academic publishers.
Because if the West were to recognize this fact, a keystone of the edifice of lies erected to justify its cynical and devastating use of Ukraine in a failed proxy war against Russia would crumble: the silly conceit that the regime change operation of 2014 was “democratic,”“from below,” and soaked in national “dignity.” Instead we’d have to face the reality of subversion, manipulation, and the betrayal of a nation to the West’s geopolitics, which is mercilessly cruel as well as bunglingly incompetent.
And then, what next: Admitting that Russia was indeed provoked, for over three decades? That the Ukrainian far right is powerful and dangerous: a hotchpotch of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and assorted other fascists which the West has “normalized” and armed beyond their wildest dreams? That Ukraine’s leader Vladimir Zelensky is a corrupt authoritarian with a dependency problem?
Recently, we have been going through two campaigns of disinformation, which may look unrelated but both of them serve the West’s ceaseless propaganda assault on Russia and its relentless stirring up of war hysteria at home: The de facto autocrat and US viceroy of the European Union, unelected and eternally scandal-plagued Ursula von der Leyen has caused a mainstream media frenzy by claiming that her plane was attacked by Russian GPS jamming. In Ukraine, after the killing of Andrey Parubiy, the authorities initially leaked silly hints trying to blame the assassination on – you know what’s coming – Russia, Russia, Russia.
By now, only days after their emergence, both these fake news stories are collapsing. Apprehended, the man who executed Andrey Parubiy on a side street of Lviv’s Stepan Bandera Boulevard has explained his motive in a first court hearing: retaliation. Mikhail Stselnikov, who lived in Lviv like Parubiy, wanted to punish a member of Ukraine’s political establishment for the catastrophic policies that, among other things, led to his son going MIA and most likely dying in one of the most senseless battles of a senseless war, namely in Bakhmut.
As acute observers have pointed out immediately, in Ukraine and beyond it, this turn of the Parubiy case must be extremely unwelcome to the Kiev regime. After its daft default attempt to scapegoat Russia, it is now obvious that the real story is about how many Ukrainians have had enough of their leadership selling out their country and lives to the West. That fact alone is something the regime could, if it wished, learn from opinion polls. What the killing of Andrey Parubiy adds is a sense of how far those very disenchanted Ukrainians may now be ready to go to liberate themselves or, at least, get payback.
And Ursula’s pernicious plane prank panic? Another infowar dud. It turns out that Fightradar24, a generally acknowledged, reliable flight tracker has data that debunks the whole tale. In detail, too: The GPS signal was not jammed, the flight lasted only minimally longer than scheduled, and, so, the whole narrative spread by the EU, Western mainstream propaganda outlets, and NATO is humbug, nonsense, bull.
The West is a place that constantly makes up transparent lies and almost never takes them back, even when they have been exposed. That goes with its toxic tendency to believe in its own stories: it’s a land not only of deception but confusion.
But then again, even in the rare instance when the West (quietly) drops one of its stupid tall tales – such as that Russia had nothing better to do than detonate one of its prime assets, the Nord Stream pipelines – the truth won’t emerge. Instead one lie replaces another. No matter if the two aren’t even consistent with each other.
In that sad sense, maybe it doesn’t really matter anymore if the West will ever, finally make an effort to stop lying. Come to think of it, probably quite a few things the West may or may not do are not very important anymore. And that’s the only good news here.
Moscow has expressed skepticism that the West is capable of causing any such outcome
Ukraine’s Western backers should accept that military efforts against Russia are failing and should instead focus on undermining its economy, including by sanctioning its trade partners, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday.
Germany remains one of Ukraine’s largest arms suppliers and has pledged long-term backing for Kiev. Despite that support, Russian forces continue to make frontline advances, Merz told the ProSiebenSat.1 media outlet. He argued that the priority should now shift toward intensifying sanctions.
“We must ensure that this country, Russia, is no longer able to maintain its war economy,” he said. “In this context, I’m talking about economic exhaustion, which we must help bring about. For example, through tariffs on those who still trade diligently with Russia.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the comments on Wednesday, writing on Telegram: “Your exhausting rod is not long enough, Herr Merz.”
Moscow has touted its resilience to Western sanctions as a hallmark of Russian economic sovereignty and has questioned the logic of politicians who pursue such policies.
“Many of the things they do harm themselves,” President Vladimir Putin remarked at a business forum in May. “One would think they would not do this or that thing to avoid self-harm. But those dimwits do, pardon my words. Leading world economies are going into a recession just to spite us.”
Merz’s government plans to cut welfare spending and rely on credit in order to sustain Ukraine aid and increase German military expenditure. The European Union’s biggest economy has shown little growth for years, with no major improvements expected anytime soon.
The rejection of Russian pipeline natural gas in an attempt to punish Moscow over the Ukraine conflict has been cited as a major factor in the decline of the competitiveness of German businesses.
Moscow has expressed skepticism that the West is capable of causing any such outcome
Ukraine’s Western backers should accept that military efforts against Russia are failing and should instead focus on undermining its economy, including by sanctioning its trade partners, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday.
Germany remains one of Ukraine’s largest arms suppliers and has pledged long-term backing for Kiev. Despite that support, Russian forces continue to make frontline advances, Merz told the ProSiebenSat.1 media outlet. He argued that the priority should now shift toward intensifying sanctions.
“We must ensure that this country, Russia, is no longer able to maintain its war economy,” he said. “In this context, I’m talking about economic exhaustion, which we must help bring about. For example, through tariffs on those who still trade diligently with Russia.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the comments on Wednesday, writing on Telegram: “Your exhausting rod is not long enough, Herr Merz.”
Moscow has touted its resilience to Western sanctions as a hallmark of Russian economic sovereignty and has questioned the logic of politicians who pursue such policies.
“Many of the things they do harm themselves,” President Vladimir Putin remarked at a business forum in May. “One would think they would not do this or that thing to avoid self-harm. But those dimwits do, pardon my words. Leading world economies are going into a recession just to spite us.”
Merz’s government plans to cut welfare spending and rely on credit in order to sustain Ukraine aid and increase German military expenditure. The European Union’s biggest economy has shown little growth for years, with no major improvements expected anytime soon.
The rejection of Russian pipeline natural gas in an attempt to punish Moscow over the Ukraine conflict has been cited as a major factor in the decline of the competitiveness of German businesses.
Kiev was instructed by its backers to keep fighting, according to the Russian president
Kiev was open to withdrawing its troops from Donbass and ending the conflict in 2022, but ultimately changed its mind at the insistence of the West, Russian president Vladimir Putin told journalists on Wednesday.
During a press conference in China, Putin said that shortly after the escalation of the conflict in 2022, Moscow urged Kiev to respect the choices of the people living in southeast Ukraine and withdraw its troops from the region. This would have ended the conflict “immediately,” he noted.
The Russian president stated that these demands “were not rejected outright” by Ukrainian authorities. However, after Moscow withdrew its own forces from around Kiev at the “insistent calls of our Western European colleagues,” the situation changed completely, Putin said.
After the troops were pulled back, “we were told, almost verbatim, ‘now we will fight until you twist off our heads, or we will twist off yours,’” Putin recalled. “I don’t remember whether I ever said this publicly or not, but it sounded something like this. Only in more crude terms, but quite openly and, as strange as it sounds, in a comradely way: ‘now it’s either you or us.”
Moscow has described its conflict with Kiev as a proxy war in which the Ukrainian people have been used as “cannon fodder” to further the interests of the West. Russian officials have also repeatedly accused Kiev’s European backers of consistently derailing any efforts to resolve the conflict.
Putin said on Wednesday that it is still possible to reach a peace deal, particularly given the “sincere desire” of US President Donald Trump to find a solution to the crisis.
However, he stressed that if a solution is not found, Moscow is prepared to defend its interests and achieve its goals through military means.
Kiev was instructed by its backers to keep fighting, according to the Russian president
Kiev was open to withdrawing its troops from Donbass and ending the conflict in 2022, but ultimately changed its mind at the insistence of the West, Russian president Vladimir Putin told journalists on Wednesday.
During a press conference in China, Putin said that shortly after the escalation of the conflict in 2022, Moscow urged Kiev to respect the choices of the people living in southeast Ukraine and withdraw its troops from the region. This would have ended the conflict “immediately,” he noted.
The Russian president stated that these demands “were not rejected outright” by Ukrainian authorities. However, after Moscow withdrew its own forces from around Kiev at the “insistent calls of our Western European colleagues,” the situation changed completely, Putin said.
After the troops were pulled back, “we were told, almost verbatim, ‘now we will fight until you twist off our heads, or we will twist off yours,’” Putin recalled. “I don’t remember whether I ever said this publicly or not, but it sounded something like this. Only in more crude terms, but quite openly and, as strange as it sounds, in a comradely way: ‘now it’s either you or us.”
Moscow has described its conflict with Kiev as a proxy war in which the Ukrainian people have been used as “cannon fodder” to further the interests of the West. Russian officials have also repeatedly accused Kiev’s European backers of consistently derailing any efforts to resolve the conflict.
Putin said on Wednesday that it is still possible to reach a peace deal, particularly given the “sincere desire” of US President Donald Trump to find a solution to the crisis.
However, he stressed that if a solution is not found, Moscow is prepared to defend its interests and achieve its goals through military means.
The White House has clarified an earlier statement that led some to believe the US president would be calling Vladimir Putin
Editor’s note: a previous report stated that President Trump would hold a call with President Putin
US President Donald Trump will hold a phone call with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, the White House has said, clarifying earlier remarks that suggested Trump was referring to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Asked by reporters on Wednesday about the two-week deadline Trump gave Putin to meet with Zelensky, the US leader said he would hold talks “with him” in the coming days to discuss steps toward resolving the Ukraine conflict.
“I’m having a conversation with him very shortly and I’ll know pretty much what we’re going to be doing,” Trump stated.
A White House official later told AFP that Trump was referring to Zelensky. “They will be speaking tomorrow,” the official said. Zelensky and European leaders said earlier in the day that they expected a call from Trump on Thursday.
“We’ve already taken strong action, as you know, and in other ways as well. I’ll be talking to him in the coming days, and we’ll see what comes out of it,” Trump added.
Trump has sought to end the Ukraine conflict since returning to the White House earlier this year. He held a summit with Putin in Alaska last month. The three-hour talks marked a diplomatic breakthrough, though they produced neither a ceasefire nor a formal peace deal.
Trump later met with Zelensky and several European leaders, urging direct talks between Putin and Zelensky. He warned he could impose sanctions and tariffs on both Moscow and Kiev if no progress is made in resolving hostilities.
Asked on Wednesday if he had a message for Putin, Trump replied: “I have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand, and he’ll make his decision one way or the other…”
Trump said he has good relations with the Russian president, and that they would find out how strong their relationship is “over the next week or two.”
Putin said on Wednesday he sees “a light at the end of the tunnel” in efforts to resolve the conflict. “We’ll see how the situation develops,” he told reporters in Beijing. The Russian leader added he is ready to host Zelensky in Moscow, but noted that the latter’s presidential term had long expired and said the Ukrainian constitution provides no mechanism for extending his powers.
The White House has clarified an earlier statement that led some to believe the US president would be calling Vladimir Putin
Editor’s note: a previous report stated that President Trump would hold a call with President Putin
US President Donald Trump will hold a phone call with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, the White House has said, clarifying earlier remarks that suggested Trump was referring to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Asked by reporters on Wednesday about the two-week deadline Trump gave Putin to meet with Zelensky, the US leader said he would hold talks “with him” in the coming days to discuss steps toward resolving the Ukraine conflict.
“I’m having a conversation with him very shortly and I’ll know pretty much what we’re going to be doing,” Trump stated.
A White House official later told AFP that Trump was referring to Zelensky. “They will be speaking tomorrow,” the official said. Zelensky and European leaders said earlier in the day that they expected a call from Trump on Thursday.
“We’ve already taken strong action, as you know, and in other ways as well. I’ll be talking to him in the coming days, and we’ll see what comes out of it,” Trump added.
Trump has sought to end the Ukraine conflict since returning to the White House earlier this year. He held a summit with Putin in Alaska last month. The three-hour talks marked a diplomatic breakthrough, though they produced neither a ceasefire nor a formal peace deal.
Trump later met with Zelensky and several European leaders, urging direct talks between Putin and Zelensky. He warned he could impose sanctions and tariffs on both Moscow and Kiev if no progress is made in resolving hostilities.
Asked on Wednesday if he had a message for Putin, Trump replied: “I have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand, and he’ll make his decision one way or the other…”
Trump said he has good relations with the Russian president, and that they would find out how strong their relationship is “over the next week or two.”
Putin said on Wednesday he sees “a light at the end of the tunnel” in efforts to resolve the conflict. “We’ll see how the situation develops,” he told reporters in Beijing. The Russian leader added he is ready to host Zelensky in Moscow, but noted that the latter’s presidential term had long expired and said the Ukrainian constitution provides no mechanism for extending his powers.
A more ‘dignified’ policy towards countries such as India is needed, Finland’s Alexander Stubb has warned
Western countries could “lose the game” to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) unless they reassess their approach to the Global South, Finnish President Alexander Stubb has warned. His comments come following the latest SCO summit in Tianjin, which has been seen as a show of unity among its members, which include China, Russia and India.
Speaking in Helsinki alongside Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Stubb urged his Western European counterparts and the US to adopt a more “cohesive and dignified foreign policy,” particularly with regard to nations such as India, against which Washington had recently imposed extensive tariffs.
Efforts by Beijing and Moscow to promote a multipolar world order amount to an “attempt to undermine the unity of the global West,” he claimed.
Stubb cited a a “jostling of power and the weakening of multilateral institutions, rules and norms” since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Moscow and Beijing have argued that institutions like the IMF, WTO, and the World Bank have been used by the West to exert control. Russia and China, along with the 18 other countries which attended the SCO summit are pushing for a multipolar world order, where all players are treated equally.
“I disagree with this approach,” Stubb said, insisting that “multilateralism is the best way to drive cooperation forward.”
“My message not only to my European colleagues, but especially to the US, is that if we don’t drive a more cooperative, more dignified foreign policy, especially with the Global South and the likes of India, we’re going to lose this game,” he warned.
China and Russia have spoken out against Western hegemony and called for the end of the unipolar world order, dominated by Washington.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called on SCO members to oppose “hegemonism and power politics” and to work toward a fairer international system rooted in “mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations, and pursuit of shared development.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also reiterated calls for a multipolar world while stressing that organizations like the SCO are not meant to oppose any third countries and are meant to establish a more just global governance system.
