February 22, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Russia's lower house of parliament has voted to suspend the country’s participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty, according to TASS state-owned news agency, one day after Vladimir Putin announced the move in a major speech.

The suspension was unanimously agreed in the Duma, according to TASS. Parliament's approval is a formality following Putin's decision that Russia will formally halt its engagement.

The treaty puts limits on the number of deployed intercontinental-range nuclear weapons that both the US and Russia can have. It was last extended in early 2021 for five years, meaning the two sides would soon need to begin negotiating on another arms control agreement.

Under the key nuclear arms control treaty, both the United States and Russia are permitted to conduct inspections of each other’s weapons sites.

While Russia is not withdrawing from the pact completely, it appears to be formalizing its current position; for months, US officials have been frustrated over Russia’s lack of co-operation with the agreement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Putin’s decision on Tuesday “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible.”

China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said the country was not considering sending lethal support to Moscow to use in its war in Ukraine, accusing the United States and NATO of spreading falsehoods about Beijing's potential role in the conflict.

His comments come after NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday said the alliance is “increasingly concerned that China might be planning lethal support for Russia’s war.” 

In his remarks Wednesday, Wang said China urges NATO “to stop smearing China with unfounded speculations on Ukraine, abandon the old Cold War mentality of zero-sum game and bloc confrontation, and stop fomenting confrontation.” 

Wang also claimed the US and other NATO countries are "the largest source of weapons to the battlefield of Ukraine."

Some context: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China's top diplomat Wang Yi on Saturday and warned "about the implications and consequences" if Beijing increases its support for Russia’s war effort, according to a US readout of the meeting.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned China not to give any support to Russia, saying it could lead to another world war.

A meeting between Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and China's top diplomat Wang Yi has begun in Moscow, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry and state media. 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posted a photograph on Telegram of Wang and Lavrov shaking hands. 

Wang arrived in Moscow just days after US officials went public with concerns about how China’s continuing partnership with Russia could have an impact on the war in Ukraine. The Chinese leadership has claimed impartiality in the conflict but refused to condemn Russia’s invasion, instead expanding trade ties and continuing joint military exercises, including this week.

Commercial radio stations in parts of Russia falsely broadcast news of an air raid alert and a possible missile attack on Wednesday after their servers were attacked by hackers, the country's Emergency Situations Ministry said.

News of the false warning spread across social media on Wednesday morning. It is unclear who is behind the alleged hack.  

“This information is fake and does not correspond to reality. We kindly ask you to monitor the messages in official sources.”

Russia’s Admiral Gorshkov frigate, armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles, arrived in the South African port of Richards Bay on Wednesday, ahead of planned naval exercises with South Africa and China, Russian state-run news agency TASS reported. 

The exercises, scheduled to begin on Feb. 27, will take place off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal province in the area between Richards Bay and the port of Durban, which serves as the main base of the South African Navy in the Indian Ocean, according to TASS. 

China will use a destroyer, a frigate and a support ship during the drills, while South Africa will take part with one frigate and two support ships, TASS said. 

Joint maneuvers: Earlier this month, TASS quoted a source close to Russia’s defense industry saying the frigate “will perform a training launch of a Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic missile during a joint exercise with South African and Chinese navies.”

The joint maritime exercise is expected to include some 350 South African National Defense Force personnel participating alongside their Russian and Chinese counterparts, according to South Africa. An earlier exercise between the three navies took place in 2019.

It’s the first time that the drills will include the Admiral Gorshkov frigate carrying Zircon hypersonic missiles, which were first tested in late 2021.

The long-range weapons travel more than five times the speed of sound and are harder to detect and intercept.

The frigate was actively involved in testing the missiles, designed and produced by the Research and Production Association of Machine-Building, part of Russia’s Tactical Missiles Corporation, according to TASS.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is planning to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in "the coming months," the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the plan.

Arrangements for the trip are at an “early stage” and the timing has not been finalized, the Journal said, citing the people familiar with the visit, adding that Xi could travel to Russia in April or early May.

Russian state-run news agency TASS referenced the Journal's report, saying Xi “may soon” visit Russia.

Putin extended an invitation to Xi during a customary end-of-year call between the two leaders, but China’s Foreign Ministry has yet to confirm any plans.

"No-limits" partnership: Though China has claimed impartiality over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it has refused to condemn Moscow and parroted Kremlin lines blaming NATO for provoking the conflict.

Beijing and Moscow are as close as ever since their leaders declared a “no-limits” friendship a year ago — partly driven by their shared animosity toward the United States. And as the US and its allies reaffirm their support for Ukraine and step up military aid, China's deepening partnership with Russia has raised alarms in Western capitals.

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi met with Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s Security Council, in Moscow on Tuesday, according to a statement from China's Foreign Ministry.

Wang and Patrushev also “exchanged their opinions” on the issue of Ukraine, the statement added, without offering details.

Wang will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, Russian state media TASS reported, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry. While neither country has specified whether Wang will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that “we do not exclude” such a meeting.

China-Russia partnership: Wang arrived in Moscow just days after US officials went public with concerns about how China’s continuing partnership with Russia could have an impact on the war in Ukraine. The Chinese leadership has claimed impartiality in the conflict but refused to condemn Russia’s invasion, instead expanding trade ties and continuing joint military exercises, including this week.

Russia carried out a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears to have failed around the time President Joe Biden was in Ukraine on Monday, according to two US officials familiar with the matter.

Russia notified the United States in advance of the launch through deconfliction lines, one official said. Another official said that the test did not pose a risk to the United States and that the US did not view the test as an anomaly or an escalation.

The test of the heavy SARMAT missile — nicknamed the Satan II in the West and capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads — appears to have failed, officials said. It has been successfully tested before and had this one worked, US officials believe Russian President Vladimir Putin would have highlighted the test in his State of the Nation address on Tuesday.

Instead, Putin made no mention of the launch in the speech that lasted an hour and 45 minutes. He did, however, formally declare that Russia will be suspending his country’s participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the US, imperiling the last remaining pact that regulates the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has not seen any official peace plan from China and is counting on international support for Ukraine’s own peace formula.

During a joint press conference with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Zelensky said Ukraine is interested in all countries being involved in ending the war.

On Monday, China said it is willing to work with other countries to achieve an early ceasefire and lasting peace in Ukraine, the country's top diplomat Wang Yi told state news agency Xinhua. Wang arrived in Moscow on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Wang shared with him key points of China’s peace plan, but Ukraine’s peace formula purposed by Zelensky remains the priority. 

“We look forward to receiving the text, as this is not a place where you can jump to conclusions just by hearing what the plan is about. We need to find out all the details. Once we receive the document, we will carefully study it and draw conclusions,” Kuleba said.