Britain says China should encourage Russia to withdraw troops from Ukraine

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said this to journalists on Friday, according to Reuters.

According to the spokesperson, if China wants to play a genuine role in restoring sovereignty to Ukraine, then London would welcome that.

"We're clear that any peace deal which is not predicated on Ukraine's sovereignty and self determination is not a peace deal at all. So we will continue to call on China, as we have done before, to join other countries across the world in calling on Putin to withdraw his troops," Sunak's spokesperson said.

China's leader Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russia on March 20-22.

This will be his first visit to Russia since the war in Ukraine began.