The Russian and Chinese leaders will talk Ukraine, energy and military cooperation, Vladimir Putin’s aide says
The two-day visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Moscow next week will be purely business-like and “unburdened by any additional ceremonial things,” Russia President Vladimir Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov has revealed.
A one-on-one meeting between Putin and Xi will take place at the Kremlin in the afternoon on Monday, Ushakov told the journalists on Friday.
“We [Russia] attach great importance to this informal conversation behind closed doors because during it the most crucial and sensitive issues in the relations between the two countries, including the conduct on the international arena, will be discussed,” he said.
On Tuesday morning, the Chinese leader is scheduled to hold talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The lengthy negotiations involving the presidents and high-profile delegations from Russia and China, including defense, foreign ministers and other officials, will he held later on the day, according to the aide.
During the visit, Putin and Xi will discuss the conflict in Ukraine, Ushakov said, adding that Moscow valued Beijing’s “measured” stance of the issue. China has resisted Western pressure to put restrictions on Russia over its military operation, while consistently calling for a peaceful resolution of the crisis and singling out the role of the US in provoking it.
Special attention by the leaders will be paid to the issues of energy cooperation, Ushakov said. China became on the one of the largest consumers of Russian gas and oil after they were redirected from the EU over the past year due to the sanctions standoff between Brussels and Moscow.
Putin and Xi will also talk about further expanding military cooperation in the presence of the defense ministers of the two countries, he added.
READ MORE: Kissinger assesses China-brokered deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran
The negotiations are going conclude with the presidents signing a statement on deepening bilateral relations and expanding economic ties between Russia and China, the aide pointed out.
The talks in Moscow will give “a new impetus” to the rapidly developing relation between the neighbors, in which there is “no leader and no follower,” and sides trust each other, Ushakov pointed out.
