Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi began a three-day official visit to Russia on Monday to meet with senior Russian officials, including his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin.

Wang assessed the current state of world affairs in an exclusive and comprehensive interview with Sputnik.

Commenting on current efforts to reach a peace agreement in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Sputnik, “China is ready to play a constructive role in the settlement together with the international community, especially with the countries of the Global South.”

Wang added, “We advocate for the elimination of the causes of the crisis through dialogue and negotiations, and ultimately for reaching a fair, long-term, binding peace agreement acceptable to all parties. This agreement will make it possible to ensure truly lasting peace and stability in Eurasia and throughout the world.”

Wang stated that China has advocated for a political settlement in Ukraine “from the first day” of the crisis, emphasizing that his country’s stance “coincides with the expectations of the majority of countries in the world community.”

Referring to President Trump’s peace initiative, Wang noted that Russia and President Putin have always been open to dialogue, saying that even small steps towards peace are “constructive” and “worth taking.”

“Peace cannot be achieved by lying down. You have to work and achieve it through hard work,” the minister stated.

Touching upon President Trump’s current efforts to reset relations with Moscow, Wang said that steps towards normalization in Russia-US relations are “good for stabilizing the balance of power between the major powers and instill optimism in the troubled international environment.”

Wang assessed, “The modern world faces a growing deficit of certainty. In these conditions, major countries must fulfill their obligations, acting as stabilizing factors in an unpredictable world.”

Furthermore, Wang stated, “Russia and the United States, as leading world powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council, bear a significant share of responsibility for peace and tranquility on the planet, especially when it comes to global strategic stability.”

Commenting on trade wars during a potential new Trump term, the Chinese Foreign Minister said, “Instead of solving its own problems, Washington tries in every possible way to evade responsibility and shift the blame onto others, resorting to customs tariffs, even blackmail and ultimatums.”

“The US itself is sick, but forces others to take medicine,” Wang said, stressing that Trump’s trade wars “will cause serious damage not only to the global market and trade order but also to the reputation of the US itself.”

The minister added, “‘America First’ cannot be achieved through American bullying, especially by harming the interests of other countries.”

Highlighting that Trump’s use of the fentanyl issue as a pretext to justify doubling tariffs “has no basis whatsoever,” Wang said: “Fentanyl abuse is a problem that Americans themselves must solve. China pursues a tough and comprehensive anti-drug policy, unlike any other country in the world. Yet, guided by the principles of humanism, we have helped the US in every possible way. How did they respond? Not with kindness, but with evil and the groundless tightening of customs tariffs.”

Commenting on the nuclear issue and the Trump administration’s recent talks on arsenal reduction, Wang said the US is the central actor in global strategic insecurity and should reduce the weight of nuclear weapons in its national security strategy and take other steps to reduce risks.

Wang added that US policies of “nuclear sharing” and “extended nuclear deterrence,” efforts to build a global missile defense system, and the deployment of US land-based medium-range missiles and other strategic weapons near the borders of other countries “undermine” global strategic security.

“We call on Washington to make serious efforts to reduce the risks of nuclear war and achieve the goal of ridding the planet of nuclear weapons,” Wang urged.

The Chinese Foreign Minister highlighted three characteristic features of the special relationship between the Eurasian neighbors:

— “Eternal friends, never enemies” (the basic principle of the 2001 Russia-China Treaty on Good Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation).
— “Equality and mutually beneficial cooperation”.
— “Non-alignment, non-conflict and non-orientation towards third parties”.

Furthermore, Wang commented, “China-Russia relations do not pose any threat to others, nor are they subject to external interference. These relations are not only a modern example of a new type of relationship between major powers but also an important stabilizing factor in a turbulent world.”

Additionally, commenting on the 80th anniversary of the end of hostilities this year, Wang said that China and Russia, which “served as the main battlefronts in Asia and Europe in the brutal battle between good and evil” during World War II, were “the main forces in the joint struggle against fascism and militarism.”

Wang added that the two countries must “protect the historical truth about the countless victims of the war and oppose any attempts and actions to deny, distort, or falsify its history.”

A spokesperson told Politico that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has been fined a “significant amount” for failing to comply with Turkish authorities’ orders to restrict content.

Politico reports, “The Turkish government is ordering the suspension of social media accounts sharing information about widespread protests following the arrest of Istanbul [Metropolitan] Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival.”

“We pushed back on the Turkish government’s requests to restrict content that clearly served the public interest, and as a result, we were fined by them,” the spokesperson stated, declining to reveal the specific amount of the fine.

The spokesperson added, “The government’s demands to restrict online speech, alongside threats to shut down online services, are serious and have a chilling effect on people’s ability to express themselves.”

According to Meta’s transparency report, in 2024, the company received 5,677 content removal requests from Turkish authorities, with 4,199 originating from the BTK (Information and Communication Technologies Authority). The report indicated that Meta complied with 40% of these requests.

Conversely, Elon Musk’s company X, which largely adhered to the orders and suspended numerous accounts after the protests began, stated it was “fighting the Turkish government’s orders to protect freedom of expression.” This included appealing to the Turkish Constitutional Court regarding an order to block 126 accounts.

However, a document reviewed by Politico indicates that this particular order predates the recent wave of protests by several weeks.

The US is pushing to control all future major infrastructure and mining investments in Ukraine, veto the role of Kyiv’s other allies, and undermine its goal of European Union membership.

According to a draft document obtained by Bloomberg, the Donald Trump administration is demanding the “right of first refusal” on investments in all infrastructure and natural resource projects under a revised partnership agreement with Ukraine.

If accepted, the partnership agreement would give the US enormous power to control investments in projects in Ukraine such as highways and railways, ports, mines, oil and natural gas, and the extraction of critical minerals.

The agreement would give the US first claim on profits transferred to a special reconstruction investment fund controlled by Washington.

The most crucial point of the document is that the US considers the “material and financial benefits” it has provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the war as a contribution to this fund.

In effect, this means the Trump administration would force Ukraine to pay the cost of all US military and economic support provided since the start of the war before Kyiv receives any income from the partnership fund.

According to the draft document, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) will control the investment fund by nominating three of the five board members and holding a “golden share” giving it special voting rights to block certain decisions. Ukraine will appoint the other two members and will be prevented from interfering in the fund’s daily management.

The Kyiv government will be required to deposit 50% of the earnings from all new natural resource and infrastructure projects into the fund. The draft states that the US will be entitled to all profits until its investment is recouped, plus a 4% annual return.

Ukraine will be obliged to submit all projects to the fund for review “at the earliest possible time,” and the DFC will gain board membership or oversight rights in all funded programs.

Kyiv will also be prohibited from offering rejected projects to other parties on “materially better” terms for at least one year.

Furthermore, according to the draft, the US government will have the right to purchase Ukraine’s metals, minerals, and oil and gas on commercial terms before other parties, regardless of whether the fund finances the project.

The agreement, which has no time limit, also prohibits Kyiv from selling critical minerals to countries that are “strategic rivals” of the US.

The US presented a revised agreement to officials in Kyiv last weekend after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plans to sign an earlier deal fell through following a tense discussion with Trump in the Oval Office last month.

The White House said last week that the administration has moved beyond the previously negotiated agreement covering critical minerals in Ukraine.

Negotiations between the two sides are ongoing, and the final draft may include revisions to the terms. A person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Ukraine would respond to the US document with its own changes this week.

Speaking to reporters in Paris on Thursday, where he traveled to attend a summit with European leaders, Zelenskyy said the full agreement proposed by the US requires “detailed study” and that the terms are constantly changing during negotiations.

While it is too early to say an agreement has been reached, he said, “We support cooperation with the US, we do not want to send a single signal that could cause the US to stop helping Ukraine.”

In response to a request for comment, a US Treasury Department spokesperson stated that the US remains committed to the swift finalization of the agreement and securing a lasting peace for Ukraine.

National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt said, “The minerals agreement offers Ukraine the opportunity to establish a lasting economic relationship with the US, which is the foundation for long-term security and peace. This agreement will strengthen relations between the two countries and benefit both sides.”

Ukraine gained EU candidate status in 2022 and is set to begin accession talks for full membership, which could take years to complete. This situation is likely to become more complicated if the US gains effective control over investment decisions covering large areas of the Ukrainian economy.

Ukraine had previously stated that an agreement with the US should not conflict with its association agreement with the EU. It had also previously rejected the US demand that Washington’s past support for Ukraine be included as a contribution to the joint fund.