Russia's FM to Visit China for Ukraine War Talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Reuters
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Russia's FM to Visit China for Ukraine War Talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Reuters

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit China on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the war in Ukraine and the deepening partnership between Moscow and Beijing.
Talks between Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who extended the invitation to the Russian minister, will include bilateral cooperation as well as "hot topics", such as the crisis in Ukraine and the Asia-Pacific, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Reuters reported last month that Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China in May for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, in what could be the Kremlin chief's first overseas trip of his new presidential term.
China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
The United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat, while US President Joe Biden argues that this century will be defined by an existential contest between democracies and autocracies.
Putin and Xi share a broad world view, which sees the West as decadent and in decline just as China challenges US supremacy in everything from quantum computing and synthetic biology to espionage and hard military power.
China-Russian trade hit a record of $240.1 billion in 2023, up 26.3% from a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data. Chinese shipments to Russia jumped 46.9% in 2023 while imports from Russia rose 13%.
China-United States trade fell 11.6% to $664.5 billion in 2023, according to the Chinese customs data.



Trump’s Ukraine Envoy Says World Must Reinstate ‘Maximum Pressure’ on Iran

Iranian security forces stand guard over the Iranian national flag hanging on a wall during an anti-Israel rally in solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people in Tehran, Iran, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Iranian security forces stand guard over the Iranian national flag hanging on a wall during an anti-Israel rally in solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people in Tehran, Iran, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
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Trump’s Ukraine Envoy Says World Must Reinstate ‘Maximum Pressure’ on Iran

Iranian security forces stand guard over the Iranian national flag hanging on a wall during an anti-Israel rally in solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people in Tehran, Iran, 10 January 2025. (EPA)
Iranian security forces stand guard over the Iranian national flag hanging on a wall during an anti-Israel rally in solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people in Tehran, Iran, 10 January 2025. (EPA)

The world must return to a policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran to turn it into a more democratic country, US President-elect Donald Trump's incoming Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg told an Iranian opposition event in Paris on Saturday.

Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term that sought to wreck Iran's economy to force the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear program, ballistic missile program and regional activities.

"These pressures are not just kinetic, just not military force, but they must be economic and diplomatic as well", Retired Lieutenant-General Kellogg, who is set to serve as Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, told the audience at Paris-based Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

He said there was an opportunity "to change Iran for the better" but that this opportunity would not last forever.

"We must exploit the weakness we now see. The hope is there, so must too be the action."

He has previously spoken at NCRI events, most recently in November, but his presence in Paris, even if in a personal capacity, suggests the group has the ear of the new US administration.

Kellogg postponed a trip to European capitals earlier this month until after Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.

It was unclear whether he would use his trip to Paris to meet French officials to discuss Ukraine. The French presidency, foreign ministry, Trump's transition team did not immediately respond for comment.

Incoming US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also spoken at NCRI events in the past. The group has repeatedly called for the fall of the existing Iranian authorities, although it is unclear how much support it has within Iran.

Speaking at the start of the event at Auvers-sur-Oise, the group's headquarters on the outskirts of Paris, NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi said the regional balance of power had shifted against Iran's leadership with the all of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and the "crushing blow" suffered by its most important ally Hezbollah in its war with Israel.

"It is time for Western governments to abandon past policies and stand with the Iranian people this time," she said.

The NCRI, the political arm of the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), has held frequent rallies in France.