Chinese President Xi Jinping will be on a visit to Russia from 20 to 22 March.
Beijing:
Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia next week, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Friday, his first trip to Moscow in nearly four years.
“At the invitation of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russia from March 20 to 22,” the ministry said in a statement.
Xi last visited Russia in 2019, although Putin attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing last year and the two leaders also met at a regional security gathering in Uzbekistan in September.
The pair will talk about “strategic cooperation,” according to a nearly simultaneous statement from the Kremlin.
The Kremlin said the two leaders will discuss deepening the comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between Russia and China, including in the international fora. He said important bilateral documents would be signed.
The visit will come exactly a year after Moscow’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
China has sought to portray itself as a neutral party in the conflict, but its position has been criticized by some Western leaders as lacking credibility and providing tacit support for Moscow.
In a 12-point position paper on the war published last month, China called for dialogue and respect for the territorial sovereignty of all countries.
China and Russia are also strategic allies, with both sides often calling it a “no border” partnership.
Beijing’s foreign ministry did not confirm whether Xi also planned to hold a rumored call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when asked at a routine press conference on Friday.
China’s foreign minister on Thursday urged Kiev and Moscow to resume peace talks “as soon as possible”, while Kiev said the call also raised the importance of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Beijing “hopes that all sides will remain calm, exercise restraint, resume peace talks as soon as possible and return to the path of political settlement”, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in a phone call.
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