BEIJING (AP) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, will begin a three-day state visit in Beijing on Tuesday amid heightened geopolitical tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. do.
China says the visit is an “opportunity to promote the further development of comprehensive cooperation between the two countries”, but there are growing concerns that China is considering military aid to Russia. U.S. officials say will have serious consequences.
China has called the US allegations a smear campaign, said it was determined to back peace talks, and accused Washington and its allies of supplying Ukraine with defensive weapons and fueling the conflict.
“The US has no right to criticize China-Russia relations. We will never accept US pressure and coercion,” foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a regular briefing on Monday. Beijing has claimed a neutral stance in the years of war, but has said it maintains an “infinite friendship” with Russia and has refused to criticize or even call it the invasion of Moscow. He accused the United States and NATO of creating a conflict and denounced sanctions against Russia and organizations believed to be supporting its military activities.
Last week, those sanctions were extended to a Chinese company called Spacety China, which supplied satellite imagery of Ukraine to a subsidiary of the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company owned by an aide to President Vladimir Putin. Spacety China’s Luxembourg-based subsidiary was also targeted.
Belarus is a strong supporter of Moscow, allowing it to use its territory as a base for Ukraine’s first invasion a year ago. Belarus continues to have Russian troops, fighter jets and other weapons.
China has long had close ties with Lukashenko, the only president of Belarus since 1994.
Despite its brutality, Lukashenko’s crackdown does not appear to have ended all dissent.
On Sunday, Belarusian guerrillas attacked a military airfield outside the Belarusian capital Minsk with Russian fighter jets, activists said. The Belarusian opposition organization BYPOL said on an activist-run online messaging app channel that A-50 early warning and control aircraft were badly damaged in the attack on the Maturishchi base near Minsk. Activists did not provide evidence to support the allegations they were unable to independently verify.Although Belarusian and Russian officials declined to comment, Lukashenko on Monday told senior military and security officials to step up discipline.
Also on Monday, prosecutors sentenced outcast opposition leaders Sviatlana Tsihanuskaya and Pavel Ratushka to 19 years in prison and fines of $15,000 and $15,000 respectively.
Tsikhanouskaya, Latushka and her three other rebel figures were tried in absentia in Minsk on charges of conspiring to overthrow the government, founding and leading extremist groups, inciting hatred and violating national security. can be Prosecutors also sought 12 years in prison for Maryya Maroz, Volha Kavalkova and Siarhei Dylevski. All five have left Belarus after unprecedented mass protests in 2020.
