Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping making statements for the media following the Russian-Chinese talks. Photo: Vladimir Astapkovich, RIA Novosti
Moscow/London: Russian President Vladimir Putin today claimed that the “collective West” was “already starting to use weapons with a nuclear component”. He warned: “But in this regard, I would like to note that if all this comes to pass, then Russia will have to respond accordingly.”
Putin was responding to the announcement by the UK Minister of state for defence Annabel Goldie that some of the ammunition for the Challenger 2 battle tanks that Britain is sending to Ukraine includes armour-piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium.
“It seems that the West really has decided to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian – no longer in words, but in deeds,” Putin said at a media event he jointly addressed with the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping today.
Soon thereafter, the UK accused Putin of spreading false information about depleted uranium, and the British Defence Ministry stated that “Independent research by scientists from groups such as the Royal Society has assessed that any impact to personal health and the environment from the use of depleted uranium munitions is likely to be low.”
It mentioned that the British Army has used depleted uranium in its armour-piercing shells for decades – “It is a standard component and has nothing to do with nuclear weapons or capabilities. Russia knows this but is deliberately trying to misinform.”
Putin said he and Xi were discussing the possibility of implementing the Chinese peace plan for Ukraine when he was informed about the announcement by the UK Deputy Defence Minister.
“We believe that many of the provisions of the peace plan put forward by China are consonant with Russian approaches and can be taken as the basis for a peaceful settlement when the West and Kyiv are ready for it. However, so far, we have not seen such readiness on their part,” Putin said.
He further said that when discussing topical international and regional problems, both he and Xi affirmed that Russia’s and China’s views on them “are identical or very close”.
“We noted the rise of tensions in many regions of the world and the accumulation of conflict and crisis potential in the global economy and politics. We can see that the practice of applying illegitimate, politically biased sanctions and other restrictions, and the use of other means of unfair competition in the economic struggle is expanding. Seemingly unshakable principles, such as non-interference in internal affairs, the rights of countries to a sovereign model of development, freedom of trade, access to modern technologies and even to education, are being violated. And in this context, Russia and China strongly oppose any state or bloc seeking to harm the legitimate interests of any other country in order to obtain military, political and economic advantages,” Putin said.
– global bihari bureau
