Putin confirms China visit in Oct., supports infrastructure project
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shaking hands with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sept. 20, 2023.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he has accepted Chinese President Xi Jinping’s invitation to visit China in October for an international forum on Beijing’s signature Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative.
In a meeting with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in St. Petersburg, Putin expressed his support for the infrastructure project, which marks its 10th anniversary this year, saying it “harmonizes our ideas to create a vast Eurasian space” and is fully in line with the interests of Moscow and Beijing, the agency said.
Putin also told Wang that Russia is willing to resolve the Ukraine crisis “through dialogue and negotiation,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. Russia is currently at war with Ukraine after launching an invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
The president said Russia is eager to maintain close coordination with China within multilateral frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS mechanism, “to resist unipolar hegemony and bloc confrontation” and “to safeguard international fairness and justice,” the ministry added.
His remarks indicated opposition to the U.S.-led international order. Wang supported Putin’s view, saying “the world is rapidly moving toward multipolarity,” the ministry said.
BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — agreed in August on the addition of six new members.
During his four-day trip to Russia through Thursday, Wang agreed with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, to promote bilateral cooperation in various fields.
Wang and Patrushev also met with Jadamba Enkhbayar, secretary of the Mongolian National Security Council, in Moscow on Tuesday and the three agreed to further collaborate to jointly safeguard regional security and stability, according to the Chinese ministry.
