Italy hopes China will "get Russia to peace talks" with Ukraine and that the peace plan it is set to unveil Friday on the first anniversary of the war will help end the conflict.
"We hope China will manage to get Russia to peace talks with Ukraine and wait to see China's 12-point peace plan," foreign minister Antonio Tajani said.
Tajani was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
"We will evaluate it and hope it goes in the right direction and pressures Russia to halt its aggression and attend peace talks," Tajani went on.
"We ask China to help get Russia to take part in peace negotiations...this is the concrete role that China can play," Tajani stated.
Tajani said he and Italy's president Sergio Mattarella underlined this message to China's top diplomat Wang Yi during his visit to Rome last week.
Commenting on reports that China collaborates with Russia through information via satellite and that it could arm Russia, Tajani said: "I hope it will do neither."
