Chinese President Xi Jinping continues his visit to Moscow, where he begins this afternoon his official talks at the Kremlin Palace with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, on a range of issues, the most important of which are bilateral relations, the economy, the international situation and the Ukrainian crisis.
The talks between the two presidents will begin in a miniature, the Russian and Chinese sides are scheduled to sign nearly 10 joint documents, and the Chinese president will hold talks today separately with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
During his meeting yesterday with the Chinese president, Putin said that his country is studying with interest the settlement plan proposed by China on the situation in Ukraine, and Putin described China's positions as balanced on regional and international issues.
Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed what he saw as comprehensive strategic cooperation between the two countries.
Russian state news agencies reported that they held informal talks for nearly 4 and a half hours on Monday.
It is Chinese President Xi Jinping's first foreign visit since his third re-election.
According to the Kremlin, the three-day visit will witness the signing of several agreements, especially in the field of economic cooperation, and the two leaders opened it by stressing the strategy of the relationship between their countries and the importance of their cooperation for what they described as the rebalancing of the global system.
While welcoming his guest's plan to stop the war in Ukraine, Xi stressed China's interest in developing its relationship with Russia, which he described as a strategic partner whose country shares similar goals of justice and equality in the world.