TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A top Russian diplomat flew to Beijing for talks with the Chinese government on Sunday, just a day after a rebellion by a Russian mercenary commander fizzled out.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang to discuss “international and regional issues of common concern,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a one-line statement on its website.
Russia and China, while not formal allies, have maintained close ties throughout Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which China has refused to condemn.
Rudenko’s visit comes after Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of private mercenary army Wagner Group, ordered his troops to march on Moscow in the greatest challenge to President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power. Prigozhin later on Saturday reached a deal with the Kremlin to go into exile and sounded the retreat.
China has not officially commented on the crisis in Russia.
The United States and other Western powers have urged China not to supply Russia with arms that could be used in the Ukraine conflict. China in May sent an envoy to Ukraine and Russia in an attempt to mediate talks to end the war.
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