An informal face-to-face meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping is underway in the Kremlin.
This was announced by the Ria Novosti agency.
The talks will continue during a working dinner.
Chinese President Xi Jinping described Russian President Putin as a "dear friend" at his meeting in the Kremlin.
"Our countries must have close relations," Xi said, as reported by RIA Novosti. "We look with interest at China's proposals to resolve the crisis in Ukraine," the Russian president told the Chinese president at the beginning of their meeting at Kremlin.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow today for a two-day visit.
It is his first trip abroad since he was re-elected for a third term as head of state.
"China and Russia are good neighbors and reliable partners," Xi said on arrival in the Russian capital, quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency, adding that his trip will serve "for the development of strategic interaction and practical cooperation." between the two countries.
"I am confident that the visit will be fruitful and will give new impetus to the healthy and stable development of China-Russia relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation in a new era,"
underlined the Chinese leader, according to which Russia and China intend to work together to promote "multilateralism" and "global governance in a more just and rational direction", on the basis of the principles of the United Nations.
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The USA, added Peskov, "also prevents a decrease in hostilities" in Ukraine.
"The State Department and the National Security Council are speaking openly and officially about this."
For his part, the spokesman for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, said that Kiev is asking Xi to "use his influence" on President Putin to stop the war.
"Ukraine is closely following the Chinese President's visit to Russia. We expect Beijing to use its influence over Moscow to end its aggressive war against Ukraine," Nikolenko said
.
A few hours before their meeting in Moscow, Putin and Xi today published parallel editorials in the press of their interlocutor
- Putin in the People's Daily, Xi in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta - to underline their strategic alliance and explain what Putin called the "role constructive" of Beijing in the "solution of the Ukrainian crisis".
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Putin said he has "high hopes" for President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow, the first since the launch of his "special military operation" against Ukraine in February 2022.
"In connection with the events taking place in Ukraine, to understand their origin and true causes, we welcome China's willingness to play a constructive role in resolving the crisis," wrote the Russian president, who returned
to harshly criticize the US, Europe and allies, arguing that
"the crisis in Ukraine, which was provoked and is being vigorously fueled by the West: is the most striking, but not the only, manifestation of the desire to maintain its international dominance and
preserve L'
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The West, he explained, wants to curb Russia and China, "by constantly working to divide the common Eurasian space into a network of exclusive clubs".
Even the military blockades, according to Putin, "would have served to contain the development of our countries. But this will not work".
In his lengthy article, the Kremlin head also listed growing areas of economic collaboration, including energy sales, Russia's construction of nuclear power plants in China, and industrial and agricultural projects, assuring that the share of deals in national currencies in bilateral trade is increasing.
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Xi's article, more focused on the war in Ukraine, aims to strike a difficult balance between calling for peace and avoiding open criticism of Russia Beijing has denied US and NATO allegations that it is considering supplying of arms to aid Moscow's aggression in Kiev, which Putin continues to insist is "fueled by the West".
China's peace plan, which provides for respect for the "sovereignty of all countries" and the end of any sanctions, is "constructive" and promotes a "political solution", said Xi, for whom "complex problems do not they have simple solutions."
But an end to the war would ensure "the stability of global production and supply chains".
"If you go to Moscow and sit down for three days at the same table as President Putin and listen to his point of view on a war that started and could end today, you should at least pick up the phone and talk to President Zelensky too to have his point of view," National Security Council spokesman
John Kirby
told CNN , assuring that the White House is following the meeting in Moscow between Xi and Vladimir Putin "very, very closely".
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