2024-07-26 12:54:17
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting in Laos and expressed his appreciation for what he called Beijing’s balanced and consistent position on the Ukrainian crisis, AFP and TASS reported.
In addition, Lavrov discussed with Van the prospects for realizing the concept of creating a new security architecture in Eurasia, “against the stagnation of the Euro-Atlantic mechanisms”, the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized. The Russian foreign minister has especially welcomed Beijing’s initiatives in support of “approaches that take into account the interests of all involved parties and imply the elimination of the root causes of the conflict.”
The annual meeting of the ten member countries of ASEAN began today in the Lao capital of Vientiane and is expected to last for three days. The meeting between Lavrov and Wang Yi took place a day after the Chinese foreign minister held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Beijing.
China is a close ally of Moscow and the West sees its actions as crucial to the Russian-led war in Ukraine.
Before the meeting, Lavrov said that ASEAN is “one of the main elements for a new and fairer multipolar order”. The organization should “guarantee stable and secure development of the Asia-Pacific region, outside the blocs”.
The foreign ministers of Canada, India and Great Britain also arrived in Vientiane, who will participate in the meetings as dialogue partners, AFP notes. Their colleague from the USA, Anthony Blinken, is expected to arrive on Saturday, BTA reported.