Xi set to visit ‘bestie’ Vlad
Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia next week in a powerful show of support for his “best friend” Vladimir Putin as relations between Moscow and Washington reach a new low after this week’s drone debacle.
Both China and Russia have confirmed the visit, with the Kremlin saying Xi (right) will be staying in Moscow from Monday to Wednesday at Putin’s “invitation.”
It will be Xi’s first foreign trip since he locked down a third term as China’s leader, and also his first meeting with Putin since the start of the Ukraine war.
Xi’s trip to Moscow is viewed as a boon to Putin after Russia found itself isolated from much of the world over the invasion.
Just weeks before the war, Beijing and Moscow struck a “no limits” partnership — and China has yet to condemn Russia for attacking Ukraine, or even refer to the conflict as an “invasion.”
The US and European leaders have said they are growing increasingly concerned that China may send lethal arms to Russia — a claim Beijing has strongly denied, while criticizing Western countries for supplying tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Kyiv.
According to a schedule released by the Kremlin Friday, Putin and Xi will start with a one-onone meeting Monday, followed by an “informal lunch,” with negotiations to take place the next day.
“During the talks, topical issues of further development of comprehensive partnership relations and strategic cooperation between Russia and China will be discussed,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“A number of important bilateral documents” would be signed at the meeting, Russian officials said, without elaborating.
China expressed concern about the war intensifying after an American MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone intercepted by Russian fighter jets crashed into the Black Sea three days ago, in the first known direct US-Russia confrontation.
Beijing has called for peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv, but Russia says Ukraine must accept the loss of five of its regions as a precondition for any negotiations.
Ukraine says Russian troops must withdraw beyond its borders of 1991 — the year the Soviet Union dissolved.
It has been reported that Xi would hold a telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after his trip to Russia, but Beijing has yet to confirm the call.