Moscow maintains that Chinese pressure isn't keeping it from going to Oslo Dec.10. What's the reason then? It won't say.
But there is plenty of cause for Russia to appease China. Its abundance of energy resources and China's growing need for energy have led to strong economic ties between the two countries. Those ties are likely only to strengthen. Russia is hoping for further Chinese investment in energy and China wants to secure access to oil and gas in Russia, Reuters reports.
What's more, Russia isn't known as a great champion of human rights. Freedom House, which monitors human rights around the world, characterized Russia as "not free" because of its alleged electoral abuses, growing state censorship, greater police corruption, and repeated intimidation of human rights activists and journalists. The executive branch has a strong hold on the media, civil society, and other branches of government.
Ukraine has had diplomatic ties with China since 1992, a year after its independence from the Soviet Union. Though Ukraine's former President Viktor Yushchenko was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in 2005, the country is experiencing a warming of diplomatic ties with Russia and a growing desire for technology advancement support from China.
