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China’s MFA neither denies, nor confirms reports Xi Jinping will visit Russia on March 21

According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning, China and Russia maintain close contacts at all levels

BEIJING, March 7. /TASS/. The Chinese Foreign Ministry is unable to confirm information that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia on March 21, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday.

"China and Russia maintain close contacts at all levels, but we have no information now about the visit you are asking about," she said curtly to a reporter at a news conference.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier told TASS the Kremlin was unable to comment on posts circulating on social networks that say a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in Russia was planned for March 21. Peskov said all trips by foreign visitors to Russia are announced in due time.

At the end of December, Putin, as he held a virtual meeting with Xi Jinping, invited him to come to Moscow in the spring of 2023. In February, the Russian president received in the Kremlin the Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), member of the CCP Politburo Wang Yi. Putin then expressed hope that the visit would give an additional impetus to the development of bilateral relations between Moscow and Beijing.

The previous face-to-face meeting of the leaders was held during the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Samarkand in September 2022.

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China Xi Jinping

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