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The Chinese President makes the second day of his official visit to Russia. After being received yesterday by his Russian counterpart, Xi Jinping met again today and for a longer period with Vladimir Putin to mention, in particular, the conflict in Ukraine. As part of this visit, which is also intended to strengthen links between the two countries, the Chinese President stressed the importance of the global strategic partnership between his country and Russia for him.
Even before meeting again with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the Chinese President stressed that his visit corresponds to “a historical logic” since Russia and China “they are the two largest neighboring powers and strategic partners at all levels”. Xi Jinping also said that his country “will continue to prioritize the global strategic partnership” with Russia. The Chinese head of state also revealed that he had invited his counterpart to pay a visit to Beijing “when you can this year”.
After his meeting with the Chinese President, Putin said that he had had “a very important and frank exchange of views on the prospects for the development of Russian-Chinese relations”. The Russian President said he was in favor of setting up Chinese companies in his country to replace Western companies that left Russia because of the war in Ukraine. Putin also said he had approached the gas pipeline project with Xi Jinping ‘Power of Siberia 2’ which should forward Russian gas to China.
On the other hand, the Russian President also said he was in favor of peace talks with Ukraine based on the roadmap proposed by China a month ago, but accused Kiev of “not willing” to talk based on that plan.
Reacting to the Chinese President’s visit to Russia, the United States said that “provides diplomatic cover” to this country after the International Criminal Court (an entity that neither the United States, nor Russia, nor Ukraine nor China recognize) on Friday issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
In turn, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that for his peace plan to be taken seriously, China has to dialogue “directly” with the Ukrainian President. Remember that just yesterday, Kiev exhorted the Chinese President to “using its influence over Moscow to put an end to the war of aggression”.
In parallel with Xi Jinping’s trip to Moscow, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida today began a visit to Ukraine. As part of this trip qualified by Kiev from “historical”, the only leader of a G7 member country who has not been to Ukraine since the start of the Russian offensive, visited the town of Bucha, where more than 400 civilians were killed last year. Offering his condolences to the Ukrainian people, Fumio Kishida reiterated his country’s support for Kiev.
It should be noted however that on the ground, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said this Tuesday that Russian Kalibr cruise missiles had been destroyed in Crimea. These claims were soon denied by Moscow which, for its part, said it had repelled a drone attack last night on that peninsula, this a few days after Putin’s visit to mark the ninth anniversary of the annexation of that territory by Russian forces.