
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to visit Moscow for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming months, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The paper said the Xi-Putin summit was part of a Chinese effort to play a more active role in ending the year-long war and part of a push for multi-party peace.
China will also use the summit to reiterate calls that nuclear weapons should not be used, the report added. Preparations for the trip are at an early stage and the timing has not been finalized, the Journal said, adding that Xi's visit could take place in April or early May when Russia celebrates its World War II victory over Nazi Germany.
Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi is currently in Moscow and is expected to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday.
On a tour of Europe, Wang has stepped up calls for a negotiated settlement to end the war in Ukraine, which began on February 24 last year when Russian troops invaded the country.
Xi and Putin last met in person in China ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics last year, days before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. The two men announced a "boundaryless" partnership where no area of collaboration was "off limits." They had a video call last December
Beijing has not condemned Russia's actions or joined Western-led sanctions against Moscow, but has called for "restraint" and stressed that disputes should be resolved by "peaceful means".
Meanwhile, its relationship with the United States has soured over issues such as human rights in Hong Kong and China's far western region of Xinjiang, as well as the U.S. disclosure this month of what it claims was a Chinese "spy balloon" flying over it. the territory.
In Moscow on Tuesday, Wang again emphasized the two countries' close ties in a meeting with Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia's powerful Security Council and a close confidant of Putin.
"Sino-Russian relations have a mature character: they are strong and will withstand any test in a changing international situation," Wang told Patrushev through a Russian interpreter in comments broadcast on Russian state television.Mail address ELECTRONiC
"In the context of a campaign being developed by the collective West to contain Russia and China, the further deepening of Russian-Chinese cooperation and interaction in the international arena is of particular importance," Patrushev was quoted as saying by state media.