“We won’t pour oil on the fire” of the war, Qin said, according to an official interpreter.

We do not pour oil on the fire.

“This is not the time to pour oil on the flame, but to put our heads together to come up with a way to put out the fire and safeguard peace,” she said.

Zuzana Batova, the institute’s director, who has received death threats from aggressive Sputnik fans, declined to be interviewed, saying she did not want to pour oil on the fire.

US special envoy on climate change, John Kerry, went out of his way to pour oil on troubled waters when speaking at the IEA event.