Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders’ summit in Samarkand on September 16, 2022.
Sergei Bobylev | AFP | Getty Images
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to visit Russia from March 20 to 22, The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.
It is Xi’s first visit to Russia since invading Ukraine in late February last year.
THE two leaders last met in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in September.
The ministry said the visit was at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He did not say whether Putin would meet Xi.
The two leaders are expected to discuss further Sino-Russian cooperation, the Kremlin said in a statement, adding that “important bilateral documents will be signed” without giving further details.
The visit comes as China again called for a ceasefire in the Russian-Ukrainian war and for peace talks to resolve the conflict that began just over a year ago.
Beijing has refused to call Moscow’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine an invasion.