Ex-Russian President Medvedev meets Chinese leader Xi for talks on ties, Ukraine war

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing for talks on bilateral ties and the Ukraine war.

Medvedev, who is currently the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, published a video of the beginning of the meeting, the talks and statement on the results on Telegram.

"Today we had talks with the Secretary-General of the Communist Party of China, Chairman of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping. We discussed the issues of cooperation between two governing parties, between the Comparty and United Russia, discussed issues of bilateral cooperation, our strategic partnership with China in all sectors, including economy and industry cooperation," Medvedev said.

The Russian official added that they also addressed international matters, including "the conflict in Ukraine."

In a separate statement, the Russian Security Council said Medvedev conveyed to Xi a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who marked "unprecedented level of the Russian-Chinese dialogue and practical cooperation."

Putin also expressed certainty in "constant progressive development of inter-state and inter-party relations" in close cooperation with the new leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.

The sides stated "the broad convergence of Moscow and Beijing's approaches to the most pressing global problems," discussed strategic foreign policy coordination, including within the UN and on other multilateral platforms, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BRICS emerging economies, and the Group of 20.

According to the Russian Security Council's press service, Medvedev and Xi also discussed the state of affairs of the post-Soviet area in general, as many of former Soviet republics are China's neighbors and have close ties with it.

The press service of the United Russia party also issued a statement on Medvedev's visit to Beijing, saying the politicians "were unanimous in their high assessment of the current state and prospects of Russian-Chinese relations, held a thorough exchange of views on a wide range of issues on the bilateral agenda, and reached an agreement on intensifying cooperation" between Russia and the Communist Party of China.