The head-to-head between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin is set to take place on Tuesday, March 21. It will be the second since the start of the conflict in Ukraine (the two leaders indeed spoke last September on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan) and the first time in four years that the Chinese head of state will visit in Russia. This trip is also the first major official visit to Russian soil since the outbreak of what the Kremlin persists in calling a “special operation in Ukraine”.
From our correspondent in Moscow, Anissa El Jabri
The excitement is palpable in Russia. From the announcement, this Friday, March 17, of Xi Jinping’s visit, we wondered in which prestigious hotel in the Russian capital the Chinese president was going to stay.
Still in its line of presenting itself as a neutral party in the conflict (the Chinese 12-point peace plan was published last month), the press release from Beijing speaks of a displacement “ for friendship and peace “.
The Russian presidency, for its part, evokes deepening comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between Russia and China ” notably ” on the international scene and the Kremlin evokes the signing of many important contracts. Highlighting concrete content at this ” boundless friendship proclaimed on the sidelines of the Beijing Olympics, just days before the dispatch of Russian soldiers to Ukraine, is important for Russia.
The only dissonant voice in one of the many programs devoted this morning to the visit of the Chinese leader to Russia, a Russian expert, Mikhail Khodaryonok, underlined on the Rossiya channel: “ China has only one ally, itself. A single priority : his interests. She is totally devoid of altruism », Comments made under the ostensibly skeptical gaze of the other guests.
► Also to listen: China: “Xi Jinping reconnects with the great history of the Chinese empire”