As soon as next week, Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Moscow according to local press reports.
Xi, who secured an unprecedented third term in office last week, had been expected to travel to Moscow in April or early May.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that an announcement would be made in coordination with Beijing in due course.
Xi’s reported decision to visit Russia sooner rather than later follows China’s offer to broker a Russian-Ukrainian peace deal.
Beijing’s diplomatic efforts have been met with skepticism by Western officials given China’s close economic and political ties with Moscow.
Putin and Xi have touted their countries’ “no-limits” partnership in recent years, claiming that together the countries acted as a counterweight to the global dominance of the United States.
Washington warned last month that China was considering sending “lethal support” to Russia in its war against Ukraine, though Beijing has rejected the claims and told the U.S. to stop “spreading false information.”
