At their meeting in the Kremlin, Xi Jinping said he is “convinced” that Putin has the support of the Russian people ahead of the next presidential election.
Via an interpreter, Xi said Putin, “Thanks to your strong leadership, Russia has made significant progress in achieving the prosperity of the country in recent years. “I am sure that the Russian people will strongly support you in your good endeavours.”
Putin addressed his guest as his “dear friend,” just as Xi had done with Putin.
The Chinese president praised Putin for what he claimed to be his support of China and urged Beijing and Moscow to maintain close ties.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said the visit would give bilateral ties “new momentum” as it is his first state visit to Russia following the Ukraine war.
“I am confident the visit will be fruitful and give new momentum to the healthy and stable development of Chinese-Russian relations,” he told journalists at Moscow airport, describing Russia and China as “good neighbours” and “reliable partners”.
China peace proposal for Ukraine war
At the Kremlin, Putin tells Xi that he has examined China’s proposals for resolving the Ukraine conflict and respects them.
Putin also said Russia was “slightly envious” of China’s tremendous progress in recent decades during casual discussions at the beginning of Xi’s state visit to Moscow.
UK’s hope
The United Kingdom says China should back up its support for the respect of territorial integrity and demand that Russia end its war in Ukraine.
“We hope President Xi uses this opportunity to press President Putin to cease bombing Ukrainian cities, hospitals, schools, to halt some of these atrocities that we are seeing on a daily basis,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said as Xi and Putin meet in Moscow.
Ukraine’s hope
According to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko, Kyiv wants China to use its influence on Russia to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.
“Ukraine is following the Chinese President’s visit to Russia closely,” Nikolenko said in a statement shortly after Xi arrived in Moscow for talks with Putin.
“We expect Beijing to use its influence on Moscow to make it put an end to the aggressive war against Ukraine,” he said.
According to Kyiv, any peace talks must include a complete withdrawal of Russian soldiers as well as respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“We stand ready to engage in a closer dialogue with China in order to restore peace in Ukraine in accordance with the principles enshrined in the UN Charter and the latest UNGA [United Nations General Assembly] resolution on this matter,” Nikolenko said.
