The Paris Stock Exchange closed on a stable note (+0.12% for Bedroom 40, at 6620.24 points) while waiting for more information to filter the phone conversation that took place this afternoon between the presidents of the United States and China, the first since the start of the war in Ukraine. The unusually long conversation between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, which lasted almost two hours, ended just before 4 p.m.
The call was meant to give Joe Biden an opportunity to assess China’s stance toward Russia, evaluate its support for Vladimir Putin, and convince him to turn down Moscow’s request for economic and military assistance. Joe Biden should have told Xi that China would face retaliation if he backed Moscow.
The White House has yet to release an official report, unlike China; it is available on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Chinese president told Joe Biden that their two countries must fulfill their international obligations and work for world peace. The Chinese aircraft carrier passed through the Taiwan Strait shortly before the start of the interview, according to AFP, citing the country’s defense ministry.
The Chinese version does not reveal whether the US president changed Xi’s attitude towards Russia in any way.
Ukraine “pulls” negotiations
Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this morning that Ukraine is seeking to “drag out” the talks by making “increasingly unrealistic demands,” Russian news agency Interfax reported in a Kremlin transcript. He said yesterday that reports of significant progress in the talks are “false,” according to financial news agency Bloomberg, which reported the words of President Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov. The latter has already accused Kyiv of slowing down negotiations: Ukraine is “not in a hurry” to conclude a ceasefire agreement, while, according to him, Russian negotiators are ready to work 24 hours a day.
Negotiations continue, discussions do not stop, which still leaves the exchange hope that an agreement will be found. However, that hope was further shattered by statements made last night when the stock exchange was closed by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. At a press conference, he said he saw no sign that Vladimir Putin was ready to stop the invasion.
US intelligence agencies also warned last night that the Russian president would be expected to brandish a nuclear threat if his army failed to crush Ukrainian resistance, causing him to lose face, Bloomberg reported. In a report obtained by Bloomberg, Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Pentagon’s intelligence agency, wrote that resistance “threatens to undermine Russia’s military personnel and reduce its arsenal, and economic sanctions are likely to plunge Russia into a protracted depression and diplomatic isolation. »