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China says President Xi Jinping will visit Russia from Monday to Wednesday as a show of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin on Friday also announced the visit, saying it would take place “at the invitation of Vladimir Putin.”
Xi and Putin will discuss “issues of further development of partnership and strategic interaction between Russia and China,” as well as exchange views “in the context of deepening Russian-Chinese cooperation in the international arena,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
China has declared its “unrestricted” friendship with Russia and has refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion – despite saying that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected.
Beijing also condemned Western sanctions and accused NATO and the United States of provoking Russia.
Putin invited Xi to visit Russia during a video conference call held in late December. The visit, Putin said, could “demonstrate the strength of Russian-Chinese relations to the whole world” and “become the main political event of the year in bilateral relations.”
China fears that the conflict will spiral out of control
In a rare phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, China’s foreign minister said Beijing was concerned about the year-old conflict with Russia spinning out of control and urged talks on a political solution with Moscow.
Qin Gang told Dmytro Kuleba that China has “always maintained a fair and just attitude on the Ukraine issue, has committed itself to promoting peace and forward negotiations and called on the international community to create conditions for peace talks,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement sent on the website.
Kuleba later tweeted that he and Qin “discussed the importance of the principle of territorial integrity.”
“I emphasize the importance of (Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s) Peace Formula to stop aggression and restore peace in Ukraine,” wrote Kuleba, who spoke the same day as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
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