Kremlin says Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi to hold talks this week: report | World News

Russian state news agency TASS said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping would hold talks before the end of the year, without providing details on when or what the format would be.

It quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying both sides would announce details in due course.

Putin and Xi announced an “unrestricted” partnership between the two countries when the Russian leader visited Beijing in February, three weeks into his invasion of Ukraine.

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Putin’s partnership with China has taken on greater importance as the West condemns the war and lashes out at Russia’s economy with sanctions, despite publicly acknowledging in September that Beijing had expressed “problems and concerns” about Ukraine.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now vice-chairman of Putin’s Security Council, met Xi during a visit to Beijing last week.

Xi told Medvedev that China hoped that all parties involved in the Ukraine crisis would exercise restraint and resolve security concerns through political means, according to Xinhua, China’s state news agency.