Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he told China’s President Xi Jinping that North Korean activities with Russia were an escalation and provocation in a message on behalf of NATO and the EU during talks in Beijing on Tuesday.

Stubb and Xi met as North Korea’s foreign minister arrived in Russia, with Western military alliance NATO and South Korea warning that Pyongyang’s troops could soon be entering the Ukraine war on Moscow’s side.

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“My message to the president was that North Korean activity right now，both in terms of arms exports，especially in terms of sending troops to (…) Russia, is escalation，expansion and provocation. So we had a good discussion about this,” Stubb told reporters.

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Stubb, who met various European leaders in recent weeks, said he delivered to Xi messages coordinated with Finland’s allies in NATO and the EU.

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Stubb said he felt the Chinese-North Korean relationship “is not very comfortable at the moment”, and that he had warned Xi supporting Russia would have negative implications for EU ties.

“The more China supports Russia, the more difficult the relationship with Europe, and especially the European Union, becomes,” Stubb said.

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The war has strained ties between some Baltic states and China due to Beijing’s perceived support of Moscow. China has a “no limits” alliance with Russia but has also sought to mediate an end to the Ukraine war.

[Edit typo.]