The Kremlin has hailed the significance of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week amid tensions with the West.
Mr Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said the two leaders are scheduled to meet on Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of a summit of a security pact dominated by Moscow and Beijing.
“The meeting has a special significance in view of the current international situation,” Mr Ushakov told reporters, saying Mr Putin and Mr Xi will discuss the international situation, along with regional issues and bilateral cooperation.
China has pointedly refused to criticise Russia’s action in Ukraine and denounced Western sanctions against Moscow.
Russia, in turn, has strongly backed China amid tensions with the US that followed a recent visit to Taiwan by US House speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“China has taken a well-balanced approach to the Ukrainian crisis, clearly expressing its understanding of the reasons that prompted Russia to launch the special military operation,” Mr Ushakov said.
“The issue will be thoroughly discussed during the meeting.”
The talks follow their meeting in February, when the Russian leader attended the opening of the Beijing Olympics shortly before sending troops into Ukraine.
Mr Ushakov noted that “the discussion of issues related to trade and economic cooperation is particularly important”, adding that “in the difficult conditions amid unlawful Western sanctions this cooperation has remained stable and continued gaining tempo.”
On Friday, Mr Putin and Mr Xi will attend the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security grouping dominated by Russia and China that also includes India, Pakistan and ex-Soviet Central Asian nations.
Iran and some other countries are on track to membership.
The leaders have developed strong personal ties to bolster a “strategic partnership” between the former Communist rivals as they both are now locked in rivalry with the US.
Even though Moscow and Beijing in the past ruled out a military alliance, Mr Putin has said that such a prospect cannot be excluded.
In a show of military muscle amid the tensions with the West, Russia and China have held joint military drills in Russia and the Sea of Japan that also involved several other nations.
