MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council and Chairman of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev met with China’s leader Xi Jinping in Beijing and delivered a message to him from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

During the December 20-21 visit, the parties also discussed international issues, including the Ukrainian crisis. According to Medvedev’s secretariat, the Russian politician "delivered a message from Russian President [Vladimir] Putin to the Chinese head of state which particularly noted the unprecedented level of Russian-Chinese political dialogue and practical cooperation and expressed confidence in unfailing gradual development of interstate and interparty ties in close interaction with the new leadership of China’s Communist Party elected at a recent party forum of Chinese communists."

"The two sides synchronized their watches on a number of significant international issues, highlighting the fact that Moscow’s and Beijing’s approaches to the most pressing global problems largely coincide, and touched on the issue of strategic foreign policy coordination, especially within the UN framework and at other multilateral venues, including the SCO, BRICS and the G20. The situation in the post-Soviet region, including the Ukrainian crisis, was discussed," the statement stressed.

On behalf of the United Russia party, Medvedev congratulated Xi Jinping on the successful 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi's re-election as general secretary and the formation of a new Central Committee. United Russia thinks that "productive Russian-Chinese talks in China became an important landmark in the context of joint efforts on bolstering dialogue between United Russia and China’s Communist Party (CCP) and transnational ties in general."

"Medvedev and Xi Jinping were unanimous in giving high marks to the current state and prospects of Russian-Chinese relations, held a detailed exchange of opinions on a wide range of issues on the bilateral agenda and reached an agreement on activating cooperation between their parties in the context of the shared goals set forth by Putin and Xi Jinping on further promoting the entire set of relations of the comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction between Russia and China," Medvedev’s office said.

Medvedev led a United Russia delegation to Beijing which included Secretary of the United Russia party’s general council, First Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Andrey Turchak and United Russia faction leader at the State Duma Vladimir Vasilyev. The official visit took place at the invitation of the Central Committee of China’s Communist Party. The talks between Medvedev and Xi Jinping became the first face-to-face meeting of the leaders of Russia’s and China’s ruling parties since the onset of the pandemic.