Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Moscow’s ally who is visiting China, said today that he fully supports Chinese proposals for a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, which were made public last week.

“Belarus is actively engaged in peace proposals and fully supports your initiative on international security,” Lukashenko said, according to the press service of the Belarusian presidency, during his talks in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping. .

“Today’s meeting took place in a very difficult period that needs new unusual approaches and responsible political decisions. These should be primarily aimed at avoiding a global confrontation, which will have no winners,” Lukashenko added.

Ahead of his long-awaited meeting with Xi, Lukashenko had hailed relations between his country and China.

The three-day official visit to China by the Belarusian president, a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, comes after Beijing released a 12-point document last week calling mainly on Moscow and Kiev to hold peace talks.

Beijing, criticized by the West for not publicly condemning Moscow since the start of its invasion of Ukraine, has sought to play a mediating role in the conflict and strongly denies US and NATO accusations that it is considering supplying arms to Russia .

In his meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang earlier today, Lukashenko said that for Beijing and Minsk, “no issue is excluded for cooperation”.

“We do everything in the interest of our peoples – Belarusian and Chinese. This will continue to be the case,” he noted.

For his part, Li Keqiang said that China will steadily promote trade of various products, including agricultural products, with Belarus, as reported by state news agencies.

Li also noted during his meeting with Lukashenko that China will support the construction of the China-Belarus industrial park and cooperation between enterprises of the two countries, Xinhua reported.

According to a video accompanying the Belarusian presidential briefing, Li Keqiang told Alexander Lukashenko that Xi Jinping would meet with him this afternoon to “continue planning the development of bilateral relations.”

Before his arrival in China, Lukashenko had described the Chinese president as an “old friend”, speaking to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua.

The Belarusian leader had also welcomed China’s document on the war in Ukraine, which he said was “testimony to its peaceful foreign policy, as well as a new unique step that will have a great impact on the whole world”.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Xi Jinping has spoken several times with Vladimir Putin, but has yet to speak with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

Belarus borders both Ukraine and Russia. However, this country is largely dependent on Moscow economically and politically. Minsk approved the passage of Russian troops through its territory to launch their attack on Ukrainian soil last February.