ASTANA, June 8. /TASS/. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to Moscow will become the year’s major event in bilateral relations, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

"We are currently preparing the year’s major event in bilateral relations, which is your visit to Russia," Putin said at a meeting with Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana.

The Russian president pointed out that not long ago, in Moscow, he had received Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who cooperated with his Russian counterpart to prepare the Chinese leader’s visit to Russia.

Putin was confident that the visit "will become a huge event as far as bilateral relations are concerned."

He added that he would like to take advantage of Thursday’s meeting to discuss bilateral and global issues.