China rejects NATO’s criticism of its reaction to Russian opposition figure’s death

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA(AA) - China on Monday rejected NATO’s criticism of its reaction to the death of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, terming it Moscow’s “internal affair.”

“This is Russia’s internal affair. I have no comment on it,” Mao Ning, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in response to a question by Anadolu during a routine news briefing in Beijing.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Saturday told reporters in Munich that Navalny’s death was not Russia’s internal affair, “but it’s a result of an authoritarian regime in Moscow.”

He also cast China's reaction to the death of the Russian politician as part of a “broader pattern of Russia's ally China quietly supporting Putin's war on Ukraine,”

Mao said: “First and foremost, different from NATO, China never interferes in other countries’ internal affairs.”

She said China’s position on the Ukraine issue is “very clear and consistent. We have been committed to talks for peace.”

“NATO should stop its tricks of hyping up tensions and interfering in other countries’ internal affairs to expand its sphere of influence and stop smearing China and stoking antagonism and confrontation. NATO should earnestly take concrete action for the peace and stability in Europe,” she went on to say.

Navalny died on Friday last in a prison colony in Russia’s Arctic Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, where he was serving his sentence.

Moscow said that Navalny lost consciousness after a walk and was pronounced dead by doctors.