A scandal broke out in relations between Moscow and Beijing because of an incident on the Russian-Kazakh border. The Chinese embassy in Moscow has accused the Russian side of “brutal and excessive law enforcement” and violating the rights of Chinese citizens after five of them were denied entry into the Russian Federation.
Beijing’s démarche, which turned a simple border episode into a high-profile diplomatic scandal, came after the incident hit the Chinese media and social media. Tensions between the two countries emerged amid a meeting on Ukraine planned without Russia’s participation in Jeddah, which China agreed to attend.
The reason for the scandal was, at first glance, trivial: refusal of entry and cancellation of tourist visas of five Chinese citizens who on July 29 tried to travel by car from Kazakhstan to Russia through the Karauzek checkpoint in the Astrakhan region.
Commenting on the episode, the Chinese Embassy in Moscow made a statement on its official WeChat account. It said Chinese consular officials had examined the video footage taken by the Chinese participants of the incident, which showed them being searched by Russian border guards for four hours. According to the statement, PRC embassy officials have already met with the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Federal Border Guard Service, the Federal Security Service and other agencies in connection with the incident to represent to the Russian side that “the brutal and excessive law enforcement by the Russian side has caused serious damage to the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens.”
The version presented to the Chinese diplomats by Russian officials is that, according to preliminary checks, the reason for the refusal of entry was that the actual destination of the Chinese citizens who wanted to enter the Russian Federation did not match the one they indicated when the visa application. The Russian side pointed out that in this way the Chinese citizens violated Russian legislation. However, despite the clarifications received, Beijing still hastened to declare Moscow guilty.
It should be noted that the scandal with the Chinese citizens coincided with the decision of the Chinese side to send China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs Li Hui to Jeddah for an international meeting on Ukraine issues, to which the Russian side was not invited, BGNES reported.
Commenting on this event, the British newspaper “Financial Times” called Beijing’s participation “a victory for both the Ukrainians and the Saudis.”
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2023-08-07 21:00:00
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