Xi will meet Putin next week in Moscow

Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay an official visit to Moscow from March 20 to 22 as Beijing demonstrates its support for Russian President Vladimir Putin while promoting a peace plan to end the conflict in Ukraine..

“Current issues regarding the development of the global partnership and strategic cooperation between Russia and China will be discussed during the talks,” the Kremlin said in a March 17 statement.

“An exchange of views is also planned in the context of deepening Russian-Chinese cooperation in the international arena,” he added.

The visit comes after Putin recently invited the Chinese leader to the Russian capital.

China last month presented a peace plan for the Ukrainian conflict that echoes Russian arguments, including blaming the West for the unprovoked invasion. The Chinese plan called, among other things, for a ceasefire and peace talks.

The West has rejected the Chinese proposal, but Moscow has welcomed it.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing also confirmed the trip and stated that Xi and Putin will discuss important international and regional issues during the visit.

Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in a press conference that the purpose of the visit is to further strengthen trust between the two powers.

Shortly before the start of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Xi and Putin issued a joint statement in Beijing last February as the Russian leader attended the Winter Olympics.

In the statement, the two leaders affirmed that “the friendship between the two states knows no boundaries, there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”

China has since refused to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine and has criticized Western sanctions against Moscow.

Western allies have accused China of considering supplying arms to Russia and have warned Beijing not to..

The Chinese president’s last visit to Moscow was in 2019. Putin and Xi last met in September at a regional security conference in Uzbekistan.