On the afternoon of February 4, President Xi Jinping had a virtual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People.

President Xi extended sincere Spring Festival greetings to President Putin and the Russian people, and noted that today is the Beginning of Spring, one of the solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar. It means the return of spring and signals a new start. President Xi expressed his readiness to work with President Putin on this auspicious day to draw a new blueprint for China-Russia relations. President Putin noted that the start of spring brings renewal, and Russia-China relations will keep growing with great vitality. He wished President Xi and the Chinese people a happy Spring Festival as well as vigor and all the success in the Year of the Horse.

President Xi said that over the past year, we met twice and steered China-Russia relations into a new stage of development. The two countries solemnly commemorated the 80th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, demonstrating a firm resolve to defend the victorious outcomes of WWII and international fairness and justice. Bilateral economic and trade exchanges have maintained a sound momentum. The China-Russia Years of Culture successfully concluded, bringing our cultural exchanges and cooperation to new heights and people-to-people ties closer. The SCO Tianjin Summit and the 24th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States were successfully held in China and Russia respectively. The two sides have increased multilateral coordination and stayed committed to building a more just and equitable global governance system.

President Xi highlighted that this year marks the beginning of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan. China will expand high-standard opening up in a more proactive manner and share new development opportunities with all countries including Russia. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination, the 25th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, and the beginning of the China-Russia Years of Education. The two sides should seize these historic opportunities to carry out closer high-level exchanges, strengthen practical cooperation across the board, deepen strategic coordination, actively shoulder responsibilities as major countries, and ensure continued development of China-Russia relations along the right track.

President Xi noted that the first few weeks of the year have witnessed increasing turbulence around the world. As responsible major countries and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, China and Russia are duty-bound to pool global efforts to firmly uphold fairness and justice, firmly defend the victorious outcomes of WWII, firmly safeguard the U.N.-centered international system and the basic norms of international law, and jointly maintain global strategic stability.

President Putin said that over the past year, Russia and China jointly commemorated the 80th anniversary of the victory of WWII, firmly safeguarded world peace secured with great sacrifice by the people of both countries and defended historical truth. Cooperation between the two countries in areas such as trade, energy, science and technology, and agriculture has deepened and achieved tangible results. People-to-people exchanges have grown closer, the China-Russia Years of Culture concluded successfully, and mutual visa exemption has facilitated travel between the two peoples. Looking ahead to the new year, Russia has full confidence in the bilateral relationship. The two sides should continue to firmly support each other in their efforts to safeguard respective national sovereignty and security, achieve economic and social development and prosperity, and promote people-to-people exchanges in areas such as education and culture for the benefit of the two peoples. Facing a complex and fluid international landscape, Russia stands ready to increase strategic coordination with China on multilateral platforms such as the U.N., the SCO and BRICS, and inject positive energy into international affairs. Russia will actively support China in hosting the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen.

The two presidents also had an in-depth exchange of views on international and regional hotspot issues of mutual interest.

Wang Yi was present at the meeting.