ST. PETERSBURG, June 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expects to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS coming soon.
"Hopefully we will meet and discuss all these issues [in culture and other spheres] with the Chinese leader at venues that I have already mentioned, at the SCO and BRICS," Putin told global media leaders at a meeting organized by TASS.
"And the Russia-China partnership is not confined to the economy or the military-technical sphere or cooperation in the international arena only", the Russian president said as he referred to the two countries’ initiative to hold mutual years of culture this year.
"All this, in my view, can be at least as important as everything else that I have mentioned, as this forms the basis of relations between nations and creates a favorable atmosphere for boosting relations across the board," Putin concluded.