Lavrov arrived in Beijing

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Beijing on Monday for a two-day official visit. It was previously announced that during this trip, he seeks to strengthen relations with China, the main diplomatic and economic partner of his country.

According to an AFP report, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced in a post on Platform X that Lavrov’s plane landed in Beijing on Monday. The ministry announced in a statement on Sunday that Lavrov’s visit will continue until Tuesday, during which he will meet with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

The ministry explained in its statement that the two ministers will discuss a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation as well as cooperation in the international arena. The Russian Foreign Ministry added: an in-depth exchange of views on a number of hot topics, including the Ukraine crisis and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, is to be held.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, relations between Moscow and Beijing have strengthened significantly. In this regard, in March 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow, where he spoke with his counterpart, Vladimir Putin, about the boundless friendship between their two countries, which challenges the hegemony of the West on the international stage. He emphasized.

A few months later, in October of the same year, the Russian president met with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the New Silk Road Forum in Beijing. On that day, Jin Ping spoke of the growing mutual political trust between China and Russia. After his re-election in March 2024, Putin described the relationship between Moscow and Beijing as a factor of stability and spoke of his very good personal relationship with Xi.

Beijing presents itself as a neutral party in the war between Ukraine and Russia, but two years ago it became Moscow’s main economic partner. China is calling for a political settlement to end the war, while the West has regularly called on the country to do more to stop the war by using its influence over Moscow.