China slams EU sanctions, urges dialogue to end Ukraine war

China on Thursday slammed the EU over its fresh Russia sanctions, stressing that dialogue and negotiation are the "only viable way" out of the Russia-Ukraine war.

China "firmly" opposes this decision and has lodged "serious protests with the EU side," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news conference in Beijing.

The EU earlier on Thursday adopted its 19th sanctions package on Russia, targeting, in its words, "Russian banks, crypto exchanges, (and) entities in India and China, among others."

"As we've stressed on multiple occasions, China is not the creator of the current crisis, nor a party to it," Guo said.

"China is committed to promoting talks for peace, has never provided lethal weapons to any party to the conflict, and exercised strict export over dual use articles," he said, urging the EU to "stop making an issue about China, stop undermining China's interests."

"It is not conducive to the sound and steady development of China-EU ties," he said.

The US on Wednesday also imposed new sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, citing Moscow's "lack of serious commitment" to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.

"Coercion and putting pressure on others will not solve any problem," Guo said.

Millions have been killed, wounded, or displaced during the more than three years of war between Russia and Ukraine.