China’s President Xi “will urge Putin not to use nuclear weapons and urge the Kremlin to hold peace talks with Ukraine when he visits Russia in a few months.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to urge Vladimir Putin not to use nuclear weapons and urge the Kremlin to hold peace talks with Ukraine when he visits Russia in the coming months.

Xi is preparing to visit Moscow for a summit with the Russian president in the coming months, sources familiar with the plan told The Wall Street Journal.

The meeting will be part of efforts for multi-party peace talks in Ukraine and will allow China to repeat its call not to use nuclear weapons – almost a year after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Preparations for the trip are in the early stages and the timeline has yet to be determined, the WSJ said, adding that Xi could arrive in April or early May when Russia celebrates its victory over Hitler’s Germany in World War II.

Meanwhile China’s Top diplomat Wang Yi arrived in Moscow today as the country appeared to step up diplomatic efforts to broker a peace settlement in Ukraine, and just hours after Putin announced Russia’s participation in a landmark nuclear arms deal exposed to the United States.

Ukrainian soldiers fired a mortar at the Russian frontline position near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region on Monday

Putin also said Russia must be ready to resume nuclear weapons testing if the US does, a move that would end a global ban on such testing that has been in place since the Cold War era.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Moscow’s decision “really unfortunate and very irresponsible”.

“We will keep a close eye on what Russia is actually doing,” he said during a visit to Greece.

It was the second time in recent days that the war in Ukraine has shown it could spread into dangerous new territory, after Blinken told China over the weekend it would be a “serious problem” if Beijing were to deliver arms and ammunition to Russia .

Wang is expected to discuss Xi’s trip to Russia during his stay in Moscow, said sources familiar with the planning of the summit.

The Chinese diplomat told one of Putin’s closest allies today that Beijing’s relationship with Moscow is “rock solid” and will stand any test in a changing international situation.

China’s “No Borders” partnership with Russia has come under scrutiny in the West after the United States said it was concerned Beijing might consider supplying Russia with weapons a year after its invasion of Ukraine.

At a meeting in Moscow, Wang Yi told Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s powerful Security Council, that he looked forward to talks on security.

“Sino-Russian relations have a mature character: they are very strong and pass every test in a changing international situation,” Wang told “comrade” Patrushev in a speech on state TV through a Russian interpreter.

Wang said that Russia and China should work out new joint steps to ensure the security of both countries, without elaborating.

Ukrainian military medics will take part in a training session led by Western instructors in the Kharkiv region on Tuesday

Patrushev, who is close to Putin, told “comrade” Wang that Beijing was the top priority for Russian foreign policy and that both countries should stand together against the West.

“In the context of a campaign by the collective West to contain both Russia and China, the further deepening of Russian-Chinese cooperation and interaction at the international level is of particular importance,” RIA quoted Patrushev as saying.

Xi has supported Putin and resisted Western pressure to isolate Russia. In fact, Sino-Russian trade has soared since the invasion of Ukraine, and Russia has sold larger amounts of oil to Asian powers, including China.

Putin and Xi share a broad worldview that sees the West as decadent and in decline, just as China challenges American supremacy in everything from technology to espionage to military capabilities.

Beijing has refused to condemn the Russian invasion or atrocities against civilians in Ukraine, while punishing Moscow with Western economic sanctions. Late last year, Russia and China held joint naval exercises in the East China Sea.

The United States views China and Russia as the top two national threats to its security. China is seen by Washington as its main long-term “strategic rival” and Russia as an “imminent threat”.

“I would like to reiterate our continued support for Beijing on the Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong issues,” Patrushev said.

As part of the visit to Moscow, Wang will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was not ruling out a meeting between Wang and Putin, saying there was “a lot to discuss.”

Meanwhile, today Putin suspended Moscow’s participation in the New START nuclear deal. The agreement, signed by the US and Russia in 2010, limits the number of long-range nuclear warheads each side can deploy and restricts the use of missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

The despot claimed the West was conspiring to gain “unlimited power” and vowed to “systematically” continue the offensive in Ukraine during an explosive State of the Union address in Russia’s parliament.

He told lawmakers he was addressing them “at a time that we all know is a difficult turning point for our country, a time of fundamental, irreversible changes around the world, of great historic events that will shape the future.” and our people.” ‘.

He added: “Responsibility for inciting the Ukrainian conflict, for its escalation, for the number of casualties… rests solely with the Western elite.”

Kiev quickly hit back at the Russian leader, with presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak saying the speech highlighted the “hopelessness of [Putin’s] position” and that he is “in a completely different reality”.