Putin and Xi discussed the Sino-Russian comprehensive partnership

WAR-REPORT : Putin spoke with People’s Republic of China (PRC) President Xi Jinping on February 24, the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin and Xi discussed the Sino-Russian comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation, and Putin informed Xi about recent US-Russia talks regarding Russia’s demands on Ukraine. Russian officials also met with Iranian and North Korean officials on February 25.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and a Russian delegation met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran. Both sides highlighted the recently signed Russo-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement and the expansion of Russo-Iranian relations. Araghchi decried the United States’ “maximum pressure” campaign and the Trump administration’s recent sanctions against Iran’s oil industry and stated that Iran is “moving on the nuclear issue in cooperation and coordination with Russia and China.”

Araghchi’s comments are noteworthy in the context of a International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report previewed by the Associated Press (AP) on February 26 that shows a dramatic increase in Iranian stocks of high-enriched uranium, as well as Iranian statements that Iran would engage in no negotiations as long as sanctions were in place.

A delegation of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) arrived in Moscow on February 25 at the invitation of Russia’s ruling United Russia Party. WPK Politburo member Ri Hi Yong headed the delegation, which met with North Korean Ambassador to Russia Sin Hong Chol and United Russia General Council Commission on International Cooperation Deputy Chairman Andrei Klimov.

WPK and United Russia representatives discussed increasing cooperation in accord with the Russo-North Korean Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement, which entered into force in December 2024. The United States sanctioned the WPK in 2016 over North Korea’s continued violations of numerous international nuclear and missile proliferation agreements.

Russia is using diplomatic engagements with these important Kremlin partners and US adversaries to amplify Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine. Lavrov thanked Iranian officials “for their balanced position, based on an understanding of the root causes of the Ukraine crisis” during his February 25 meeting with Araghchi. Lavrov first mentioned the “root causes” issue during a speech on December 26, 2024, in which he described them as NATO’s alleged violations of promises not to expand eastward and Ukraine’s alleged discrimination against Russian-speaking minorities in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin’s invocation of these so-called “root causes” of the war is an attempt to repackage the Kremlin’s standard demands for regime change and the demilitarization of Ukraine—essentially maximalist demands for Ukraine’s total capitulation—as well as the rollback of the NATO alliance from Eastern Europe. Lavrov also brought up “root causes” of the war during a meeting with PRC Foreign Minister Wang Yi on February 20, and Putin invoked the same concept during his February 24 call with Xi. Kremlin officials appear to be increasingly using their diplomatic engagements with Iran, North Korea, and the PRC, to propagate the “root causes” rhetoric and create the impression that Russia’s closest allies are supportive of the Kremlin line on the war, thereby seeming to build a coalition of like-minded states that will support Russia’s efforts to compel Ukraine, Europe, and the United States to accept all of Russia’s demands.