Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that China has “agreed” to a meeting in Moscow between him and their president, Xi Jinping.
Such an encounter between the two world leaders could happen as early as April, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the plan.
“We await a visit of the President of the People’s Republic of China to Russia, we have agreed on this,” Putin told top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Wednesday during their meeting at the Kremlin, according to Reuters. “Everything is progressing, developing. We are reaching new frontiers.”
The comments come just days before the 1-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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China has refused to criticize the invasion of Ukraine — echoing Moscow’s claim that the U.S. and NATO are to blame for provoking the Kremlin while blasting the punishing sanctions imposed on Russia. Russia, in turn, has staunchly supported China amid tensions with the U.S. over Taiwan.
The rapprochement has worried the West, leading U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to warn that any Chinese involvement in the Kremlin’s war effort would be a “serious problem.”
The visit Wednesday by Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party’s most senior foreign policy official to Moscow, comes as the conflict in Ukraine continues to upend the global diplomatic order.
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Speaking at the start of talks, Putin noted escalating international tensions, adding that “in this context, cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation on the global arena is particularly important for stabilizing the international situation.”
Wang said that “the Chinese-Russian relations aren’t directed against any third countries and certainly can’t be subject to pressure from any third countries.”
Earlier Wednesday, Wang held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who noted that “our ties have continued to develop dynamically, and despite high turbulence in the global arena we have shown the readiness to speak in defense of each other’s interests.”
Wang responded in kind, underlining Beijing’s focus on deepening ties with Russia — a relationship it says has “no limits.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
