MOSCOW, August 8. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping discussed during a telephone conversation earlier on Friday an upcoming visit of the Russian leader to China, the Kremlin’s press office announced in a statement.
"The two leaders discussed a number of pressing matters of bilateral and international concern, including in light of preparations for Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit to China to take part in both a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and official events marking the 80th anniversary of Victory over militarist Japan and the end of World War II," the statement reads.
In late June, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov announced in an interview with VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin that President Putin planned to spend four days in China. During the visit, the Russian leader will take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, scheduled for August 31-September 1.
On September 2, full-scale bilateral negotiations between Russia and China are planned, and on September 3 in Beijing, the presidents of both countries will jointly participate in a celebration dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the victory over militarist Japan and the end of World War II.
The Kremlin’s press office also added in its statement that during their telephone call Putin and Xi discussed this week’s meeting of the Russian president with US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow.
"In the spirit of the comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation maintained by the two countries, the President of Russia informed the President of the People's Republic of China of the key outcomes of his meeting with US President's Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, held on August 6," the statement reads.
"Xi Jinping thanked Vladimir Putin for the information shared and spoke in favour of reaching a sustainable settlement to the Ukraine crisis," the Kremlin’s press office added.
According to Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov’s previous statements, Moscow "is amenable" to the US proposal to hold a personal meeting between Putin and Trump.
The Kremlin aide told journalists on August 7 that an agreement on the planning of such a meeting had indeed been reached with American colleagues and both sides are currently engaged in "detailed preparations" for this meeting.
According to Ushakov’s previous statements, the meeting is tentatively being planned for next week: "But the parties are initiating preparations for this important meeting directly, and it is difficult to say how many days the preparation will take."
The venue of the meeting between Putin and Trump has been agreed, and the Kremlin will inform about it "a little later," the Russian presidential aide also stated.
On August 6, Putin received US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin. After the meeting, Ushakov said that Witkoff had received some signals on the Ukrainian issue, and in turn, reciprocal signals had been received from US President Donald Trump.
A White House official told reporters on Wednesday that the meeting between Putin and Witkoff, in the opinion of the Washington administration, went well, and Russia demonstrated interest in continuing cooperation with the United States.
Germany’s Bild later reported that Trump held a telephone call with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz informing him that "the conversation between Witkoff and Putin was more productive than expected."
The meeting between Putin and Witkoff was also attended by Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Special Presidential Envoy for Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries.
Witkoff arrived in Moscow at about 7:00 a.m. Moscow time (4:00 a.m. GMT) on Wednesday, where he was met at Vnukovo Airport by Dmitriev. About an hour later, the two took a walk through Zaryadye Park in central Moscow.