Xi Jinping urges Putin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine

Xi Jinping with Vladimir Putin at the official welcoming ceremony at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow in March

Xi Jinping personally warned Vladimir Putin against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

The Chinese president delivered a scathing message personally to the Russian president during his state visit to Moscow in March, the Financial Times reported Wednesday, citing several Western and Chinese officials.

This points to China's underlying fears of a Russian invasion of its neighbor, despite Beijing's outward display of tacit support for Moscow on the world stage

The report comes amid Ukrainian warnings that Russia may have planted explosives on the roof of Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye, in the country's southeast.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Moscow may be planning to blow them up, to simulate an attack on the facility, the responsibility for which will be assigned to the forces of Kiev.

A Russian soldier guards the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. Photo: AP

China's influence on Russia has raised hopes that Xi's warning may deter Putin from using nuclear weapons over fears that he could jeopardize Moscow's relationship with Beijing.

Andriy Yermak, Zelensky's chief of staff, said that China's stance was «important.»

«[This is] an important stance [of China] regarding the nuclear threat from a crazed Russian terrorist,» he wrote on the messaging app Telegram, posting a link to Financial Times article.

China was one of the few countries that fully cooperated with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Xi Jinping's early last year declaration of «boundless» friendship with Putin and Beijing's «peace plan» reflecting Moscow's views were met with suspicion in the US and Europe.

However, Beijing's stance on nuclear weapons was also welcomed .

Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, said in March that Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow «reduces the risk of nuclear war, and they [the Chinese] have made it very, very clear that

< p>Though there were «many problems» with China's support for Russia, the advantage of their close relationship being that Moscow insisted it not go for the nuclear option, he said.

«China doesn't believe it's in in his interests at all, so that it slides into a global conflict.”