Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin meet in Moscow, discuss Chinese peace plan for Ukraine

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin met for more than four hours on Monday in Moscow, discussing topics that included bilateral cooperation, the war in Ukraine and a peace plan proposed by Beijing, according to Russian and Chinese state media.

Xi’s visit, which will last for three days, has drawn scrutiny and suspicion from the West. The US and its allies have argued that China is hardly a neutral party given its diplomatic and material support for Russia since it invaded Ukraine a year ago.

The Chinese leader said that “rational voices” were gaining sway regarding Ukraine, with a growing number of countries in favour of de-escalation and dialogue and against “adding fuel to the fire”, according to Xinhua.

“We encourage President Xi to press President Putin directly on the need to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in Washington as the two leaders met. “The world and China’s neighbours will certainly be watching closely.”

According to Russian media, the leaders’ “informal” talks started at 4.30pm local time on Monday, extended over dinner and wrapped up after four and a half hours, and Putin “went out into the street” to see Xi off as they parted, reportedly a rare move for him.

China is ready to continue playing a constructive role in order to find a political solution to the Ukraine war, Xi told Putin, according to the reports. “We believe that the more difficult it is, the more space must be left for peace; the more acute the contradictions, the more we cannot give up on dialogue efforts,” Xi said, according to Xinhua.

Putin reportedly said that Russia appreciated China’s “consistent” and “balanced” position on major international issues, adding that Moscow was “open to peace talks and welcomes China’s constructive role to this end”.

A video released by Russian state channel RT showed the two leaders extending greetings sitting on white chairs in front of a gold leaf-trimmed fireplace as Xi referred to “my dear friend” Putin.

On Tuesday, they will meet at 3pm at the Kremlin to “plan a new blueprint for a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation”, followed by a state dinner, Xinhua and the Tass news agency reported.

The visit by Xi follows China’s diplomatic victory in brokering a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Moscow trip is Xi’s first overseas since he secured a third term at Beijing’s annual rubber-stamp parliament this month.

Washington has largely dismissed China’s recent 12-point peace plan as one-sided, unworkable and a rehash of past ideas, while Ukraine has had a more muted reaction, having sought top-level talks with China for the past year. Last week, Ukraine congratulated Beijing on brokering the Saudi-Iran deal even as it touted its own 10-point peace plan to end Russia’s aggression.

Xi has indicated a willingness to hold his first talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after meeting Putin.

“The world should not be fooled by any tactical move by Russia, supported by China or any other country, to freeze the war on its own terms,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, adding that Beijing and Moscow should work on Ukraine’s version of a peace plan.

China, Russia, Iran begin 5-day navy drills near US-led exercise

Analysts said the meeting of the two authoritarian leaders was meant to send a defiant message that their partnership remained strong and that allied efforts to isolate Russia since the Ukraine invasion – and China longer term through a web of Indo-Pacific partnerships and military alliances – were falling short.

China’s “peace proposal seeks to reinforce the narrative that China is a responsible global stakeholder,” said Craig Singleton, senior fellow with the non-partisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “However, Xi’s principal goal is ensuring Russia remains a viable ballast against the United States.”

On Monday, Xi re-emphasised the “no limits” partnership between China and Russia, detailing common interests the two nations have, including their independent foreign policies and support for a multipolar “democratised” global system. “The general direction of strengthening strategic cooperation between China and Russia is unwavering,” Xi added, according to Xinhua.

Last week, China, Russia and Iran staged joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, according to China’s Defence Ministry. Other countries also took part in the “Security Bond-2023” exercises, the ministry added without providing details. The three nations conducted similar exercises in 2019 and 2022.

Xi’s visit follows Friday’s release of an arrest warrant for Putin by the International Criminal Court, which charged him with war crimes linked to the forced deportation of children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. Russia, which along with China and the United States are not members of the court, called the case “null and void”.

On Saturday evening, Putin made a trip to the occupied Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, a day after visiting Crimea, which Russia annexed 2014.

Additional reporting by Orange Wang in Washington