now we should use the instruments of actions against russia. let s go to you, sergey. well, i would tend to agree with whatjust has been said about the need to continue dialogue under all circumstances. russia is a major regional player, you would argue a global player. no question can be solved without russia. russia has done some nasty things on the global stage, there is no doubt about that. it s not the only country that has ever done nasty things on the global stage. but still, dialogue is important because the stakes are too high. carl bildt? there could be, depends on the circumstances. i mean, of course, there must always be room for diplomacy. i was foreign minister, i think, for eight years, and apart from the close circle of eu friends there was no one i spent as much time with as with the russian foreign minister. on all sorts of issues. sometimes we didn t agree. often we disagreed, but it was important to keep the communication
his view is, i fear, might be different. all right, let s go to ourfinal question. volodimir golovko, what do you want to ask our panel? what is the role and influence of china in the ukrainian russian conflict? is there a possibility- for the west to coordinate with beijing in support- to stop russian aggression? which instruments can the united states, - european union, united kingdom and even ukraine to push china l to press on putin s politics? right, well, a lot in that question. let s go to you, sergei, because it s very much your area of expertise russia, china, cold war, all the rest of it. there is no way that china will back western sanctions on russia. china will maintain benevolent neutrality, benevolent towards russia. russia and china have an alignment of sorts. it s not in china s interest. they are opposed they re not too worried about
0k, kristina kvien, you are the acting ambassador for washington. hasjoe biden, is he being blackmailed by putin, as the deputy prime minister implies there? well, perhaps president putin has tried, but no, president biden has not been blackmailed because he won t let himself be blackmailed. and we won t let nato be blackmailed either. so president putin can try, but he will fail. and your response, though, to 0ksana s question about why ukraine has become this flashpoint? well, i think because the ukrainian people have chosen a western path. 60% supportjoining nato. 70% supportjoining the eu. and russia doesn t like it. so they ve decided to use aggression to try to stop ukraine from joining the path that it and its people have chosen to join. but can ijust make the same point that i made to carl bildt, which is this is all then about a principal which actually may not be realised for a very long time, i.e., ukrainejoining the european union or a nato. well, for any country tojoin nat
who ll be taking questions from the audience here. the deputy prime minister of ukraine is 0lha stefanishyna. although ukraine was not party to the talks this week, she s been presenting the government s position. kristina kvien is the acting ambassador for washington here in ukraine. carl bildt is a former swedish prime minister and one of europe s leading statesman. and professor sergey radchenko is a russian born political scientist based in europe. that s our panel. welcome to you all. give them a round of applause. applause and, remember, you too can join the conversation. it s #bbcglobal0uestions. got a lot to get through in this programme so, without further ado, let s go to our first question from 0ksana cabal. 0ksana, your question, please. my question is, why has ukraine become a geopolitical flashpoint? deputy prime minister?
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