Xi Jinping arrives in Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin: “Russia and China are reliable partners”

The president ChinaXi Jinping landed in Russiawhere he will meet this Monday and Tuesday with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putinduring a state visit aimed at further strengthening the close alliance between the two countries against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and Russia’s isolation by the West.

He Chinese leader He arrived at Vnukovo-2 airport at about 10:00 Moscow time, where another plane with a Chinese delegation also landed an hour ago.
Xi was received on the red carpet by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernishchenko, after which he said that he was “very happy” with the invitation Putin. “China and Russia are good neighbors and reliable partners connected by mountains and rivers,” he said.

The guard of honor performed the anthem of China and Russia.

This is the ninth trip Xi To Russiaduring which today around 13:30 he will arrange an informal dinner in the Kremlin with his “friend”. Putin and tomorrow, from 12:00 Moscow time, official negotiations with the relevant delegations, during which important agreements will be signed.

The West fears that these talks will serve Russia not only strengthen ties with China as an alternative market, but also to avoid sanctions after reports of the appearance of a Chinese drone on the battlefield in Ukraine and the supply of Chinese weapons, according to the American newspaper POLITICO.

The President of China is the most powerful and relevant ally at a time when Putin is in international isolation due to the Russian military campaign in Ukraine, and since last week he has also been issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which China sees as “double standards”.

War in Ukraine as background

photo from Xi in the Kremlin is a message to the West that the two countries, through their “eternal” friendship and in the face of attempts to “contain” them, stand together against the “actions of hegemony, despotism and persecution”, as described by the Chinese president in a Russian newspaper before landing in Moscow .

The visit of the Chinese President also indicates that Xi won’t fall Putinwhich should China in the face of Western sanctions. Not surprisingly, bilateral trade totaled $190 billion last year, up 116% from a decade ago.

Against the backdrop of a visit Xi Jinping To Russia there is a war in Ukraine, in which China takes an ambiguous position, defending the territorial integrity of Ukraine, on the one hand, and advocating for the consideration of Russia’s security interests, on the other.

Peace Initiative China welcomed in Russia with nuances, because the observance of territorial integrity will mean the return of the occupied territories to Ukraine, and in Kyiv they believe that the Chinese plan is devoid of logic and full of contradictions, since the interests of the aggressor country cannot be taken into account.

“One way or another, the issues that are raised in this plan, of course, will inevitably be discussed during the exchange of views on Ukraine. Ukraine will undoubtedly be on the agenda,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today.

“Given the essence of what is happening, China takes an unbiased and objective position, and makes active efforts to promote reconciliation and peace negotiations,” Xi wrote in his article.

Putin, in turn, wrote in the official Chinese daily newspaper that he was open to a “political and diplomatic solution” to the war in Ukraine, but emphasized that any peace process “depends only on the willingness to conduct serious negotiations, taking into account geopolitical realities.”

“Unfortunately, the ultimatum demands directed Russia They only talk about isolation from such realities and disinterest in finding a way out of the current situation,” he said. (EFE)