United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Monday that the world should not be "fooled" by what he described as Russia's tactical moves that China may support.
Blinken stressed during his speech on human rights around the world that Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him shows that Beijing does not believe Moscow should be held accountable for invading Ukraine. He also warned that reaching a ceasefire that would allow Russia to keep troops in Ukraine would mean admitting that country's victory in its conquest.
Commenting further on human rights, Blinken noted those are "universal" and must "apply to everyone everywhere." He underlined the point of the report is "not to lecture or shame" but to "provide a resource for those individuals working around the world to safeguard and uphold human dignity when it's under threat in so many ways."