Tokyo:

The Group of Seven (G7) on Tuesday called on China to press Russia to stop its aggression in Ukraine after foreign ministers of the bloc met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly and released a joint statement. The statement, released by the foreign ministry of G7 chair Japan, said the members hoped China would push for the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

The statement comes as China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, visits Russia for a four-day trip during which both nations are expected to pledge deeper political ties, with a possible visit by President Vladimir Putin to Beijing on the horizon.

The G7 members also welcomed China’s participation in the Ukraine-led meeting in Jeddah and “further encouraged China to support a just and lasting peace, including through its direct dialogue with Ukraine,” the statement said.

Putin met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week in Moscow for talks that included closer military ties, alarming the United States and other western-aligned countries.

Pyongyang and Moscow have denied that North Korea could supply arms to Russia, which has expended vast stocks in more than 18 months of war.

The G7 joint statement did not name any countries, but said its members “reiterated their call on third parties to cease any and all assistance to Russia’s war of aggression or face severe costs.”

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Moscow:

Moscow and Beijing are closely aligned in their positions on the United States and resolving the Ukraine conflict, the Russian foreign ministry said following talks between their top diplomats on Monday. The statement came after China’s Wang Yi kicked off a four-day visit to Moscow with a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the latest in a series of high-level contacts between the two strategic allies.

“The similarity of the parties’ positions regarding US actions in the international arena, including those of an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese nature, was stated,” Russia’s foreign ministry said.

“The parties discussed in detail the current state of affairs in Ukraine, noting the futility of attempts to resolve the crisis without taking into account Russia’s interests and, all the more so, without Russia’s participation,” it added.

Wang also told Lavrov about the content of talks he held over the weekend with US President Joe Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan, the statement said.

Russia and China frequently tout their “no limits” partnership and economic and military cooperation. 

China has sought to position itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine conflict, while offering Moscow a vital diplomatic and financial lifeline as its international isolation deepens.

According to a Chinese state media readout, Wang reiterated Beijing’s position paper on the Ukraine conflict, which called for peace talks but was met with scepticism by the United States and NATO when it was released earlier this year. 

Wang told Lavrov the plan “takes into account the security concerns of all parties and is conducive to eliminating the root causes of the conflict”, according to China’s Xinhua.

“A permanent good-neighbourly friendship, comprehensive strategic cooperation, and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Russia will continue to contribute to the development and revitalisation of each country,” he added.

During his visit, Wang is due to hold security consultations at the invitation of Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s security council.

President Xi Jinping made a state visit to Moscow in March and declared that relations between the two countries were entering a new era.

An aide to Vladimir Putin said in July that the Russian president was planning to visit China in October.

At the annual Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok last week, Putin told Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing that ties between Russia and China “have reached an absolutely unprecedented, historical level”.

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Moscow:

To enter Russia from occupied Ukraine, all Tatiana has to do is arrive at the edge of the war-battered Donetsk region, show guards her Russian passport, say “thank you” and cross.

Moscow has controlled several key border points since 2014 but the frontier has become more porous since the Kremlin annexed four Ukrainian territories last year, encouraging residents to take up new citizenship.

“It’s become more comfortable because we’ve become Russians,” the 37-year-old from a Russian-occupied town near the frontline told AFP.

Tatiana used to have to go through a more arduous procedure to enter Russia — a check run by Moscow-sponsored separatists, then through Russian customs.

“We had two borders to cross, which meant long, long traffic queues,” she said near a motel on the frontier.

She was heading for Taganrog — a town in southern Russia once home to writer Anton Chekhov — to do some errands, including taking out insurance.

The smoother crossings are one of the most visible signs of change since the Kremlin annexed the industrial Donetsk region alongside three other regions of Ukraine at a lavish ceremony last year.

They illustrate how quickly Russian authorities are seeking to absorb occupied territories, even though the international community, including Russia’s allies, do not recognise Moscow’s authority there.

Moscow last weekend hosted local government elections in the annexed Ukrainian territories and claimed pro-Kremlin party United Russia had won easily in each region.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in May that officials had handed out nearly two million Russian passports to Ukrainians in occupied regions.

But its military still does not fully control any of the four regions annexed last year, and Ukrainian forces are gaining ground in two of them — Zaporizhzhia in the south and Donetsk in the east.

Despite that, thousands of people travel to Russia by bus or car from occupied cities like Donetsk, Lugansk and Mariupol — a port city captured by Moscow after a brutal months-long siege.

Further away from the front, however, signs of the conflict are visible everywhere.

AFP journalists on the road between Taganrog and the Avilo-Uspenka crossing point saw Russian military vehicles daubed with large Z and V tactical symbols.

And two Russian attack helicopters flew overhead.

“The closer you get (to Russia), the safer you feel,” Tatiana said, describing life in her “frontline” Ukrainian town of Gorlivka as both dangerous and stressful.

While the conflict has spilled over into Russia — with cross-border drone attacks and shelling now routine — Russian authorities are working to contain the fighting on one side of the border.

A taxi driver, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that two of his passengers — a mother and her son — had recently been stopped by Russian customs officers as they left the Ukrainian region of Lugansk.

The man was accused of deserting from his military unit and his mother accused of trying to help him return home.

While entering Russia has become easier for civilians like Tatiana, difficulties remain for lorry drivers, who are still subject to meticulous checks by Russian customs officers.

“The rules for crossing for cars are very different from those for goods,” Vlad, a 26-year-old truck driver who spends long hours in his lorry each time he passes through, told AFP.

Nearby, retired postal worker Natalia was waiting for the one train connection each day from Russia back to the occupied Donetsk region.

“We would obviously like more forms of transport,” the 69-year-old told AFP after visiting relatives in Taganrog.

“We’re not quite in Russia yet but we’re going to hope,” she said.

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New Delhi:

Russia “must stop” its blockade of Ukrainian seaports after pulling out of a United Nations and Turkey-mediated deal to ensure grain shipments, the president of the European Council Charles Michel said Friday.

“It’s frankly scandalous that Russia, after having terminated the Black Sea grain initiative, is blocking and attacking Ukrainian ports. This must stop,” Michel told reporters in India’s capital of New Delhi, ahead of a G20 summit.

Russia pulled out of the grain agreement in July after claiming that it had failed to fulfil the goal of relieving hunger in Africa.

Tensions have built in the region since, with Russia mounting attacks on Ukrainian export hubs and Kyiv’s forces targeting Moscow’s naval ports and warships.

The Kremlin has since asked Turkey to help Russia export its grain to African countries without any involvement from Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Moscow is just weeks away from supplying free grain to six African countries.

“The Kremlin’s offer of one million tonnes of grain to Africa is absolutely cynical,” Michel said.

“Ships with grains need to have safe access to the Black Sea,” he said, noting that the UN initiative had initially delivered 32 million tonnes to the market, “especially to developing countries”.

Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of grain and seed oil.

Last year’s grain agreement helped push down global food prices and provide Ukraine with an important source of revenue to fight the war.

Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s shipping infrastructure.

“Over 250 million people face acute food insecurity worldwide, and by deliberately attacking Ukraine’s seaports, the Kremlin is depriving them of the food they desperately need,” Michel added.

Putin is not attending — or even planning to make a video address at — the G20 in India, with relations between Moscow and many members of the bloc fraught over the war in Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will take Putin’s place at the summit this weekend.

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