MOSCOW. Feb 22 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Office Director of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi discussed Ukraine at talks on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
"Of course, the Ukraine crisis was discussed. We are grateful to the Chinese party for its invariably balanced position on this issue," Zakharova said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
"We welcome China's willingness to play a positive role in resolving the Ukraine crisis," she added.
Zakharova later responded to a media question as to whether the "Chinese peace plan" for the Ukraine settlement reported in the West had been discussed during Lavrov's talks with Wang.
"We paid attention to the statements of some Western politicians and media reports about some kind of 'Chinese peace plan.' As usual, they are distorting the real picture," Zakharova was quoted by the Foreign Ministry website as saying.
"The Chinese partners have familiarized us with their ideas about the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis, as well as their approaches to its political settlement. There was no talk about any separate 'plan,'" she said, noting that "most of the assessments of the Chinese side coincide with our vision of the current situation."
"We also stand for compliance with the United Nations Charter and respect for the rules of international humanitarian law. We are committed to the principle of the indivisibility of security, according to which the security of one country cannot be strengthened at the expense of another's security. We are seriously concerned by the situation in the field of strategic stability, as well as by the dangerous actions of the Kiev authorities, which could undermine the nuclear security of Eurasia. All unilateral Western sanctions are illegitimate and are measures of unfair competition and economic warfare," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
"It is noted that the political will of the West and its Kiev wards is needed for reaching peace as soon as possible. So far, any peacemaking ideas and schemes are broken by Washington's desire to continue the war on Russia to the 'last Ukrainian' in order to weaken, and in the ideal case to decapitate, split up and take control of our country. And then focus on deterring China, which the Westerners openly declare to be the main 'strategic challenge,'" Zakharova added.