Russian officials appeared eager Monday to reaffiirm Moscow’s alliance with China following U.S. President Donald Trump’s high-profile meeting with Xi Jinping.
Hot on the heels of Trump’s talks with Xi last week, which the U.S. president described as “amazing,” Russia has now sent a large delegation of its own to China for deal-making and talks.
Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin arrived in Hangzhou on Monday for two-day talks with his Chinese counterpart, Li Qiang, with the officials signing a range of agreements, Russian state media reported, to deepen cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, energy, transport, agriculture and space.
Calling his Chinese counterpart his “dear friend,” Mishustin said in comments reported by Russian state news agency Ria Novosti, that relations between Russia and China were “at their highest level in their centuries-long history and continue to develop dynamically in all areas, despite various obstacles and illegal Western sanctions.”
For his part, Li Qiang said Beijing was ready to strengthen cooperation with Russia despite obstacles, although he did not specify what he was referring to.
