China Ready to Back Russia on Sovereignty, Security Issues, Xi Jinping Says After Talking to Putin

The Russian president's spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier confirmed reports that the presidents of Russia and China held a phone conversation, promising that additional details would be released later.

China and Russia will continue supporting each other on the issues of sovereignty and security, Chinese President Xi Jinping has stated as cited by teh CCTV following his phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The Chinese leader further said that cooperation between the two countries will continue in other spheres as well, despite current global instabilities. He namely mentioned the strengthening of strategic cooperation between Russia and China.

"Since the beginning of this year, despite global changes and instability in the world, Sino-Russian relations have maintained a good momentum of development. The Chinese side is ready to cooperate with the Russian side to ensure the stable and long-term development of bilateral business cooperation," Xi Jinping said.

Xi Jinping also expressed readiness to deepen cooperation between China and Russia within international and regional organisations, including the UN, BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The Chinese president lauded "strong development" of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries in recent years.

The two presidents also addressed the issue of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, with Xi Jinping telling Putin that all parties concerned should work towards ending it. The Chinese leader, in turn, promised that Beijing will continue to play its constructive role in this process.

China faced criticism from western countries over its refusal to condemn the Russian special operation in Ukraine and apply sanctions against Russian officials, government structures and businesses. Beijing strongly rejected demands to do so and harshly criticised western sanctions against Russia.

Ukraine was among the topics discussed by Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin during a telephone call earlier today. The Russian president's spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed reports that the conversation had taken place, but said that the details of its contents will be made publically available later.