The Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared, on Saturday evening April 22, to have “acknowledged with dismay” remarks by the Chinese ambassador in France over the Crimea. Questioned Friday on LCI, Lu Shaye estimated that the countries of the former USSR “do not have effective status in international law because there is no international agreement to concretize their status as a sovereign country”. He added about Crimea, a Ukrainian territory that Russia has occupied since 2014: “[Elle] was at the very beginning to Russia. It was Khrushchev who gave Crimea to Ukraine in the days of the Soviet Union.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked China “to say [s’ils] reflect its position, which we hope is not the case”. Follow our live.
Six Leopard tanks sent to Ukraine. The Spanish Minister of Defense announced on Saturday that the six Leopoard tanks promised by Madrid had gone to sea the day before. “There are four more Leopards under repair and when that is done they will also go to Ukraine”she added.
More than twenty German diplomats expelled from Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday the expulsion of “more than twenty” German diplomats. In a press release, he mentions “retaliatory measures” after “the new mass eviction” of Russian diplomats in Germany.
Lula wants a “negotiated solution” between Russia and Ukraine. “At the same time as my government condemns the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, we defend a negotiated solution to the conflict”said the Brazilian president on Saturday, after a meeting in Lisbon with his Portuguese counterpart. “We urgently need a group of countries that sit down with both Ukraine and Russia”he said.