Moscow (EFE).- Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Russia today, on his first visit abroad since his re-election for a historic third term as head of the Asian giant, in order to meet with one of his main allies, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
Putin and Xi will talk, among other things, about tensions with the West, especially with the United States, and the conflict in Ukraine, in which Beijing seems willing to intervene, since it has also traditionally maintained good relations with Kiev.
The peace initiative that China presented a few weeks ago has not satisfied either side or the West, but it has placed Xi in a role of mediator, a role he also played successfully between two apparently irreconcilable countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. .
The Chinese leader arrives in Moscow the day after Putin visited Ukraine for the first time -specifically the port of Mariupol (Azov Sea), Donetsk region- since the start of the so-called special military operation in February 2022.
The meeting open to the public will take place on Tuesday in the Kremlin, a ceremony in which both leaders will address issues on the bilateral and international agenda and sign several important agreements, after which they will offer a press conference.
However, as the Kremlin has admitted, what really interests Moscow is the informal lunch that Putin and Xi will hold today, Monday, and in which they will be able to talk “face to face” about what they deem appropriate without any media pressure.
“We pay special attention to that closed (to the public) and informal conversation. During it, the most key and sensitive issues will be discussed,” said Yuri Ushakov, Kremlin adviser for international affairs.
Ushakov stressed that Moscow appreciates Beijing’s moderate stance on Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, with whose leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, Xi intends to have video conference talks after his visit to Russia.
The Russian and Chinese foreign and defense ministers will participate in the negotiations, since military cooperation will also be one of the issues to be discussed on the agenda between two countries that describe their political and economic relationship as strategic.
Not surprisingly, Moscow and Beijing collaborate in all international organizations and their commercial exchanges are already close to 200,000 million dollars.
The meeting between the Russian and Chinese leaders takes place after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin last Friday for the illegal deportation of minors from the territory occupied by Russian troops in Ukraine, which the court considers it a war crime.
The Kremlin replied that such an order is “null and void from a legal point of view”, since Russia does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC.
Xi says China makes active efforts to help peace in Ukraine
The president of China, Xi Jinping, affirmed that his country makes “active efforts” to help peace in Ukraine, in an article published this Monday in various Russian media.
“Since last year there has been a total aggravation of the Ukrainian crisis. Based on the essence of what is happening, China maintains an impartial and objective stance, makes active efforts to help reconciliation and peace negotiations,” the president wrote.
Xi noted that the recently released “China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis” is a document that serves as a “constructive factor” in moving towards that goal.
He was convinced that a “rational way out of the crisis and a path towards solid peace and global security in the world” will be found.
The Chinese president stressed that the international community “is aware that no country is superior to the others.”