News / Foreign Policy

China, India pressure Russia's Putin to end Ukraine conflict: Blinken

Friday, 16 September 2022 5:51 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 16 September 2022 5:51 PM ]

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022. (Photo via Reuters)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has claimed that China and India put pressure on Russia to end the conflict in Ukraine.

Blinken said on Friday that concerns on Ukraine heard by Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit put pressure on the Russian leader "to end aggression" in Ukraine

"I think what you're hearing from China, from India, is reflective of concerns around the world about the effects of Russia's aggression on Ukraine, not just on the people of Ukraine," Blinken told reporters. "I think it increases the pressure on Russia to end the aggression."

Putin told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting on Friday on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan that he wanted to end the conflict in Ukraine "as soon as possible" and understood that India had "concerns" about the fighting.

"I know your position on the conflict in Ukraine, your concerns.... We will do our best to end this as soon as possible," Putin was reported as telling Modi during the bilateral talks.

On Thursday, Putin had held bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, discussing both Ukraine and Taiwan.

Putin told his Chinese counterpart that he was ready to address Beijing's "concerns" over Ukraine.

China willing to cooperate with Russia as ‘great powers’ against Western hegemony

China is willing to cooperate with Russia, President Xi Jinping has said.

Russia began its “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24, with a declared aim of “demilitarizing” Donbas, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk self-proclaimed republics.

Back in 2014, the two republics, which are predominantly Russian-speaking, broke away from Ukraine, prompting Kiev to launch a bloody war against both regions in Donbas.

The years-long conflict has killed more than 14,000 people, mostly in the eastern pro-Moscow Donbas region.

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