Xi Plans Trip to Moscow Amid Ukraine Invasion

(Reuters)—Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to visit Moscow for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming months, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the plan.

The report stated that Xi’s visit to Putin will be part a push for multiparty talks on Ukraine. This will allow China and Russia to renew their calls that nukes not be used. Russia invaded Ukraine last February 24, 2012.

Preparations for the trip at at an early stage and the timing has not been finalised, the WSJ said, adding that Xi could visit in April or in early May, when Russia celebrates its World War Two victory over Germany.

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi arrived in Moscow on Tuesday as as the country appears to be ramping up its diplomatic effort to push for a peace settlement in Ukraine, and just hours after Putin announced Russia was suspending its participation in a landmark nuclear arms treaty with the United States.

Wang will likely discuss Xi’s trip while he is in Moscow, WSJ said, quoting people familiar with the summit planning.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; editing and writing by Alex Richardson, Mark Heinrich)