MOSCOW, March 21. /TASS/. Chinese-Russian relations are rooted in their mutual interest for their development, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Tuesday.

"Chinese-Russian relations are based on mutual interest. We are neighbors and are guided in our relations by the fundamental interests of our states," he said after the talks between the two countries’ leaders in an interview with the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

A fragment of the interview was posted on the Telegram channel of the program’s host, Pavel Zarubin.

Xi arrived on a state visit to Russia on March 20 and will stay in Moscow until March 22. This is Xi’s first foreign visit after his re-election as China’s president for a third five-year term. On Monday, he had a tete-a-tete informal meeting with Putin, which lasted for 4.5 hours. On Tuesday, the Chinese leader met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and then arrived in the Kremlin for official talks with Putin. The leaders signed two joint statements after the talks. The Chinese president invited his Russian counterpart to visit China this year.