Chinese leader Xi Jinping will visit Russia next month for the meeting of summit of BRICS, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said today, quoted by the Associated Press, quoted by BTA.
This will be Xi's second visit to Russia since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Although China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, Beijing has supported the Kremlin's contention that Russia's actions were provoked by the West. China also continues to supply Moscow with essential parts for weapons production.
Van Yi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg today, where both expressed satisfaction with the state of relations between China and Russia. China's foreign minister said Xi had "welcomed" Putin's invitation to attend the BRICS meeting in the Russian city of Kazan in October.
BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) is an organization of major emerging economies, with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as members from 2024.
Putin also announced a bilateral meeting between him and Xi in Kazan, where they will discuss various aspects of Russia-China relations, which are "developing quite successfully" and "in all directions".
Xi's last visit to Russia was in March 2023, and in October of the same year, Putin visited China. Since then, the two leaders met in Beijing in May – which was Putin's first trip abroad in his fifth term as president, and to Kazakhstan in July.
After launching what the Kremlin insists is a "special military operation" in Ukraine, Russia has become increasingly economically dependent on China after Western-imposed sanctions have limited the country's access to most of the international trading system. China's growing trade with Russia, which last year totaled $240 billion, has helped the country mitigate some of the worst effects of the sanctions.
Moscow has shifted its energy exports primarily to China and relies on Chinese companies to import high-tech parts for Russia's military industry to circumvent Western sanctions.
The two countries have also deepened their military ties over the past two years.