Lavrov “appreciates and welcomes the constructive role played by China” toward a political resolution of the “Ukraine crisis,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in their readout of Monday’s call. China has continued to bolster its economic, diplomatic, and security ties with Russia, despite Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which Beijing has never condemned. It did not send a delegation to previous international talks in Denmark in June, despite attempting to position itself as a potential peace broker on the conflict in recent months. That proposal, which Beijing put forward earlier this year, calls for peace talks to end the conflict. Ukraine and Russia remain publicly committed to prerequisites for direct negotiations that the other side finds unacceptable.

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