EU flag outside the European Parliament Headquarters in BrusselsBRUSSELS, Mar 31. The EU wants to raise the issue during the virtual summit with China on April 1 so that Beijing does not help circumvent European sanctions against Russia and does not provide military assistance to Moscow, a high-ranking European source told reporters in Brussels. «We would not want our partner , with whom we work a lot, helped to circumvent the sanctions that we imposed against Russia, or provided military assistance to it,» the source said.Zelensky called for the introduction of «powerful» sanctions against Russia. As the EU added, they believe that «China has influence on Russia.» «China should build on its global and long-term interests… Is it worth endangering its interests, the stability of the world economy and its own economy?» — said the European source. He pointed out that the meeting also includes discussions on «human rights issues, including the rights of national minorities in China.» «In trade, we still see that companies from the EU do not have the same access to the Chinese market that Chinese companies have in Europe,» the source said. He stressed that climate issues will also be discussed. The source explained that the EU summit will be attended by the head of the European Council Charles Michel and the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. No final bilateral statement planned.
Russia has banned entry to the top leadership of the European UnionWestern countries have imposed tough sanctions against the Russian Federation due to a special operation to demilitarize Ukraine. In early March, the European Union decided to disconnect seven Russian banks from the SWIFT system: these are VTB, Rossiya and Otkritie banks, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank, and the state corporation VEB.RF. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov estimated that Western countries, as part of sanctions over Ukraine, have frozen about half, or about $300 billion, of Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves. Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the “collective West”, by freezing Russian assets, actually drew a line under the reliability of their currencies, crossed out their trust. Putin announced on March 23 that Russia was converting payments for gas supplies to unfriendly countries into rubles. The President signed a corresponding decree on March 31, it concerns only supplies by Gazprom through pipelines. By decree, Gazprombank is an authorized bank for foreign buyers to open special ruble accounts to pay for gas supplies. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. .jpg» />Putin called the sanctions of the West the price for the freedom and independence of Russia
