Moscow shares agenda for Xi Jinping’s visit

The two-day visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Moscow next week will be business-like and “unburdened by any additional ceremonial things,” Russia President Vladimir Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov has revealed.

A one-on-one meeting between Putin and Xi will take place at the Kremlin in the afternoon on Monday, Ushakov told the journalists on Friday.

“We [Russia] attach great importance to this informal conversation behind closed doors because during it the most crucial and sensitive issues in the relations between the two countries, including conduct on the international arena, will be discussed,” he said.

On Tuesday morning, the Chinese leader is scheduled to hold talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.  Negotiations involving the respective presidents and high-profile delegations from including defense and foreign ministers from both countries, will be held later in the day, according to the aide.

During the visit, Putin and Xi will discuss the conflict in Ukraine, Ushakov said, adding that Moscow values Beijing’s “measured” stance of the issue. China has resisted Western pressure to impose sanctions on Russia over its military operation, while consistently calling for a peaceful resolution of the crisis and singling out the role of the US in provoking it.

Special attention will be paid by the leaders to energy cooperation, Ushakov added. China became one of the largest consumers of Russian gas and oil after the resources were redirected from the EU over the past year, due to the sanctions standoff between Brussels and Moscow.

Putin and Xi will also talk about further expanding military cooperation in the presence of the two countries’ defense ministers, the Russian president’s aide noted.

Negotiations will conclude with the respective presidents signing a statement on deepening bilateral relations and expanding economic ties, the aide pointed out.

The talks in Moscow will give “a new impetus” to the rapidly developing relations between the neighbors, in which there is “no leader and no follower,” and where both sides trust each other, Ushakov pointed out.

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