Russia and China Condemn Western Sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine

A woman places plastic over her damaged window after a Russian attack on the previous night, in the residential area of Mikolaiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. (AP)
A woman places plastic over her damaged window after a Russian attack on the previous night, in the residential area of Mikolaiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. (AP)
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Russia and China Condemn Western Sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine

A woman places plastic over her damaged window after a Russian attack on the previous night, in the residential area of Mikolaiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. (AP)
A woman places plastic over her damaged window after a Russian attack on the previous night, in the residential area of Mikolaiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. (AP)

Foreign ministers from Russia and China on Wednesday condemned what they called illegal and counter productive Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its action in Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui, where China was set to host two days of meetings on Afghanistan.

The meeting comes a little over a month after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what Russia calls a special operation, triggering unprecedented Western sanctions.

Russia is looking to China for support and partnerships as it becomes ever more isolated from global financial systems and supply chains.

"The ministers had a thorough exchange of views on the situation around Ukraine. The head of the Russian foreign ministry informed his Chinese counterpart about the progress of the special military operation ... and the dynamics of the negotiation process with the Kyiv regime," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The sides noted the counterproductive nature of the illegal unilateral sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and its satellites."

The ministry said the two ministers had agreed that Russia and China would continue to strengthen their strategic partnership and to speak on global affairs "with a united voice".

"It was agreed to further strengthen foreign policy coordination and to widen cooperation on the bilateral track and in various multilateral formats," the ministry said.

Wang said Chinese and Russian relations had "withstood the test of international turbulence" and there was an increased willingness by them to develop relations that had "grown resiliently", China's Phoenix TV reported.

"There is no limit to China-Russia cooperation, no limit to our efforts to achieve peace, safeguard security and oppose hegemony," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman told a media briefing in Beijing.

"China-Russia relations are non-aligned, non-confrontational and not targeted at any third party," the spokesman said.

Lavrov, who on Monday said Russia's relations with China were at their strongest level ever, had arrived earlier in China for talks hosted by Wang that were set to include representatives from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban as well as Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Afghanistan is suffering an economic and humanitarian crisis worsened by a financial aid cutoff following the Taliban takeover as US-led troops departed in August.



Germany Arrests US Citizen over Accusations of Spying for China

The sun sets behind the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The sun sets behind the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
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Germany Arrests US Citizen over Accusations of Spying for China

The sun sets behind the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The sun sets behind the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Germany’s federal prosecutor office said it arrested an American citizen on Thursday who allegedly spied for China, The Associated Press reported.
The office said that the suspect, who was only identified as Martin D., was arrested in Frankfurt and that his home was being searched.
The accused, who until recently worked for the US Armed Forces in Germany, is strongly suspected of having agreed to act as an intelligence agent for a foreign secret service, the statement said.
Earlier this year, he contacted Chinese government agencies and offered to transmit sensitive information from the US military to a Chinese intelligence service, according to an investigation by Germany’s domestic intelligence service.
He had obtained the information in question in the course of his work in the US army, the prosecutor’s statement said, without giving any further information.
German investigators have exposed several people suspected of spying for China this year.
Last month, German authorities arrested a Chinese national accused of passing information on a major air freight hub to a man who is suspected of spying for China.
And in April, a man who worked for a prominent German far-right lawmaker in the European Parliament was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.