LONDON (Reuters) – The Group of Seven is playing a “dangerous game” by making aggressive criticism of the Kremlin because it pushes Russia closer to China, Russia’s ambassador to London Andrei Kelin told Reuters on Thursday.
G7 foreign ministers this month scolded both China and Russia, casting the Kremlin as malicious and Beijing as a bully, but beyond words there were few concrete steps aside from expressing support for Taiwan and Ukraine.
Kelin said the G7’s list of criticism was biased, confrontational and was stoking anti-Western feelings among Russians while its aggressive attitude towards Russia and China was pushing the two powers together.
“This is a dangerous game,” Kelin told Reuters. “Russia and China have enormous potential in different fields – in the economy, in technology, in military capacities, in politics.”
“We are not allies with China however pushing Russia and China it closes our ranks with China – in that sense we are more and more united against challenges that are being presented from the West.”
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kate Holton)
