Putin on ‘wrong side of history,’ says Freeland to China as leaders meet

Freeland’s comments Monday come as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow for a three-day visit in the nation that’s at war with its neighbour, Ukraine.

Beijing needs to understand that Russian President Vladimir Putin is on the “wrong side of history,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says.

Freeland’s comments Monday come as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow for a three-day visit in the nation that’s at war with its neighbour, Ukraine.

That full-scale conflict, which Putin began more than a year ago, continues to play out, and Beijing has asserted itself as a potential peace-broker between the two parties.

“Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is an illegal and barbaric act. The people responsible for that invasion are war criminals. Everyone in the world has a responsibility to be very clear about that and to speak out about that,” Freeland told reporters in Oshawa, Ont.

“I would say all the countries in the world have an absolutely clear interest in Putin’s war failing because Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is the strongest challenge in a generation to the rules-based international order, and that rules-based international order is something all the countries of the world depend on.

I’m not going to anticipate what President Xi will say or do in Moscow, but China and China’s leadership needs to understand the stakes here, and needs to understand that Vladimir Putin is on the wrong side of history.”

Russia and China have described Xi’s three-day trip as an opportunity to deepen their “no-limits friendship.” China looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas for its energy-hungry economy, and as a partner in standing up to what both see as U.S. domination of global affairs.

China last month called for a ceasefire and peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautiously welcomed Beijing’s involvement, but the overture fizzled.