Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday in an unannounced visit to Beijing, where he passed on President Vladimir Putin’s message hailing “unprecedented” cooperation.
“The talks were quite useful,” Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said in a video posted on his Telegram messaging app channel.
Medvedev said he discussed Moscow and Beijing’s economic and manufacturing strategic partnership, Russia’s war in Ukraine and cooperation between Russia’s and China’s ruling parties with the Chinese leader.
In the video he published, Medvedev can be seen flanked by senior United Russia party leaders seated opposite Xi, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and two other officials.
Medvedev’s secretariat told state media that he delivered a message from Putin to Xi during his two-day visit.
The TASS news agency said Putin's message “noted the unprecedented level of Russian-Chinese political dialogue and practical cooperation and expressed confidence in the continued progressive development of interstate and inter-party ties.”
Xi and Medvedev “noted the broad convergence in Moscow and Beijing’s approaches to the world’s most pressing issues and touched on strategic foreign policy coordination,” the news agency added.
Putin has pursued closer ties with China after the Kremlin found itself politically and economically isolated from the West after invading Ukraine.
Russian media reported earlier this month that Putin and Xi were due to hold talks in late December.
Medvedev, 57, has become one of Russia’s most hawkish pro-war voices since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February.
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