Putin visits Xi in China as leaders push for ‘political solution’ to Ukraine war | BBC News

Putin visits Xi in China as leaders push for ‘political solution’ to Ukraine war | BBC News

Russia’s President Putin has arrived in China for a state visit president Xi Jinping greeted the Russian leader in Beijing welcoming him as my old friend this is Mr Putin’s first foreign trip since his unprecedented re-election for a fifth term and his second visit to China in 6 months it comes as the war in Ukraine has left Russia diplomatically isolated across much of the West as well as facing unprecedented sanctions so President Putin is seeking to strengthen friendships elsewhere let me take you live to Beijing where we are expecting the two leaders to hold a news conference in the next little while um you can see that on the right hand side of the screen now uh the talks have gone on longer than we expected and I can bring in our China correspondent Steven McDonald who is in Beijing um uh Mr Putin getting the full red carpet treatment and these talks Stephen going on longer as I said than we expected yeah well often these things do sort of run late um I mean I suppose I should say when you mention news conference I don’t think wellow I’d be very very very surprised if there is a genuine news conference featuring those two leaders they may come out and make a few statements in front of the cameras but xiin ping doesn’t take questions from the press for example so I don’t think you know there will be a news conference in any real sense but when we look at what’s going on at the Great Hall of the people today the Biden Administration has already accused the Chinese government of materially supporting Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine now when I say materially supporting that’s equipment Goods which are being sent to Russia apparently with a sort of a civilian use but really which are being used to fuel the war what this trip is all about is also providing Vladimir Putin with moral support there he is he’s quite ated on the world stage he can’t travel to many countries for fear of being arrested and sent to the international criminal court here he can have a grand meeting in which he would appear to many of his own people to be more of a genuine normal world leader than an international Pariah and then when he has his meeting with xiin ping I’ll give you a few quotes from both of them he said that our cooperation in world affairs is one of the main stabilizing factors on the international stage stabilizing factors this is Vladimir Putin together we defend the principles of fairness and the Democratic world uh in accordance with international law I think many people in Ukraine would find that pretty laughable that he would be getting up and saying those things mid invasion of another country and yet here this is all treated seriously and reported in the Chinese press and shijin ping responds to him that these two countries are a up holding Justice in the world uh you know again I think many would find that a bit hard to believe that these two leaders they may do many things but promoting Justice in the world wouldn’t be at the top of the pile another thing that China is doing for Russia is buying goods the most recent figures show an an uptake in Russian gas being imported into China by 40% now that doesn’t make up for all the Lost revenue for gas prom you following European countries not buying that gas from Russia anymore but it’s also not nothing and so there’s Russia its economy struggling with sanctions on it along comes China a country which says it’s neutral when it comes to the war and essentially propping up the Russian government because after all many analysts would say that what Vladimir Putin really is doing is China’s Dirty Work by undermining Western democracy by eating up NATO resources and allowing shijin ping to sort of step back and say oh it’s got nothing to do with us stepen McDonald live in Beijing

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has visited China in what is his first international visit since the start of his fifth presidential term.

Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed his “old friend” Vladimir Putin to Beijing.

Putin said Russia and China wanted a political solution to the ‘Ukraine crisis’ while Xi called for a two-state solution to the war in Gaza.

The meeting – the third in just over a year – comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raged on for more than two years.

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