Russia, Chinese FMs Discuss Ties, Ukraine, Korean Peninsula on G20 Sidelines

In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
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Russia, Chinese FMs Discuss Ties, Ukraine, Korean Peninsula on G20 Sidelines

In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)
In this handout picture released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 19, 2024, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Russian Foreign Ministry/AFP)

Chinese and Russian foreign ministers discussed bilateral ties, the conflict in Ukraine and the situation on the Korean Peninsula on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Brazil, the foreign ministries of both countries said on Tuesday.

"We are truly at an unprecedented stage in the development of our strategic relations of a comprehensive partnership," Russia's Sergei Lavrov told his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, according to a post on the Russian foreign ministry Telegram channel.

Wang said that Beijing is willing to work with Russia to further strengthen bilateral "comprehensive strategic coordination," the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

The "two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis and the situation on the Korean Peninsula," it added without providing further detail.

The meeting is part of a frenzy of bilateral talks between China and Russia that followed Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine 1,000 days ago. The war ostracized Moscow from Kyiv's Western allies, bringing waves of sanctions on Russian politicians and businesses.

China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing less than three weeks before his troops marched into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.

In May this year, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.



Canada Foiled Iran Plot to Assassinate Former Minister

 Irwin Cotler (L) was targeted in an alleged Iranian assassination plot. (AFP)
Irwin Cotler (L) was targeted in an alleged Iranian assassination plot. (AFP)
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Canada Foiled Iran Plot to Assassinate Former Minister

 Irwin Cotler (L) was targeted in an alleged Iranian assassination plot. (AFP)
Irwin Cotler (L) was targeted in an alleged Iranian assassination plot. (AFP)

Canadian authorities recently foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister who has been a strong critic of Tehran, Cotler's organization said Monday.

The 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2015 but has remained active with many associations that campaign for human rights around the world.

The Globe and Mail newspaper reported that he was informed on October 26 that he faced an imminent threat -- within 48 hours -- of assassination from Iranian agents.

Authorities tracked two suspects in the plot, the paper said, citing an unnamed source.

In an email to AFP, the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, where Cotler is international chair, confirmed the Globe and Mail report.

Cotler "has no knowledge or details regarding any arrests made," said Brandon Golfman, an organization spokesman.

Tehran late on Monday denied what it described as "the claim of Canadian media that Iran tried to assassinate a Canadian person," the official IRNA news agency reported, citing Issa Kameli, the director general for the Americas at the foreign ministry.

The Iranian diplomat denounced the report as "ridiculous storytelling and in line with the misinformation campaign against Iran".

A spokesperson for Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc declined to comment, telling AFP: "We cannot comment on, nor confirm specific RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) operations due to security reasons."

Another senior government minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, called the plot "very concerning."

Jean-Yves Duclos, the government's senior minister in Quebec province, where Cotler lives, said it was likely "very difficult for (Cotler), in particular, and his family and friends to hear" about it.

The House of Commons, meanwhile, passed a unanimous motion praising Cotler's work in defense of human rights and "condemning the death threats against him orchestrated by agents of a foreign regime."

Cotler had already been receiving police protection for more than a year after the October 7, 2023 attack in Israel by Hamas gunmen.

Cotler, who is Jewish and a strong backer of Israel, has advocated globally to have Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps listed as a terrorist entity.

His name reportedly also came up in an FBI probe of a 2022 Iranian murder-for-hire operation in New York that targeted American human rights activist Masih Alinejad.

Ottawa, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago, listed the Revolutionary Guard as a banned terror group in June.

It said at the time that Iranian authorities displayed a consistent "disregard for human rights both inside and outside of Iran, as well as a willingness to destabilize the international rules-based order."

As a lawyer, Cotler also represented Iranian political prisoners and dissidents.

His daughter, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, is an Israeli politician and diplomat who previously served as a member of Israel's parliament.