Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian BEJING, Feb 27Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, commenting on the events around Ukraine on Twitter, said that the United States should ask itself who started all this. «The United States should ask itself who started all this,» the message, which is accompanied by a cartoon, says. It depicts a man in the image of Uncle Sam, symbolizing the United States, who wonders: «Why is China not doing more to put out the fire?». At the same time, Uncle Sam himself «extinguishes» the fire around the sign with the word «Ukraine» with gasoline. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, said that in the situation around Ukraine, one should abandon the Cold War mentality and respect legitimate security interests of all countries. He also stressed that the Chinese side is in favor of a settlement between Russia and Ukraine through negotiations. On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, which had declared their independence from Kyiv back in 2014, and early in the morning on February 24, Russia launched a military operation to demilitarize Ukraine. In a televised address to fellow citizens, Putin said that circumstances “require decisive and immediate action,” as the Donbass republics asked for help. According to the Russian leader, all responsibility for the bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine. He called on the Ukrainian military not to follow the criminal orders of the Ukrainian authorities, lay down their arms and go home. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed that the Russian Armed Forces did not launch any strikes on the cities of Ukraine: military infrastructure was disabled by high-precision means. The civilian population, according to the department, is not in danger. The Ministry of Defense added that the Ukrainian border guards «do not offer any resistance», in some cases the Ukrainian military surrender and then have the opportunity to return to their families. Media: SWIFT expressed readiness to implement the decision of European countries on sanctionsPublished: Maxim Gorbachev
