Putin to hold talks with Chinese leader

Russian President Vladimir Putin will on Friday hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Moscow, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said.

Ushakov said Xi is in Russia on an official visit on Putin’s invitation. Today’s talks will at first be held in the narrow format, and them in an expanded format of a working lunch. After that, documents will be signed at a ceremony and statements for the press will be made.
Besides, the program of the Chinese leader’s visit includes a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, as well as participation in events devoted to the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War.

Ushakov said some 40 documents are due to be signed following the Moscow talks, including a joint statement by the Russian and Chinese leaders on deepening comprehensive cooperation and strategic interaction, as well as promotion of mutually beneficial cooperation.

He stressed that as of May 6, "some documents" were "still being coordinated."

Some companies, which already coordinated their documents, have already voiced their plans to sign them May 8, Ushakov said. According to unofficial data, Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom plans to sign documents with China’s CNPC in development of agreements on deliveries of gas to China "in the western direction", a few sources close to the Russian company told TASS.

According to some media, an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in information security could also be signed at the meeting.

According to unofficial data, Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft plan to establish a joint company with Chinese partners on leasing of Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft in China and Southeast Asian countries.

Putin and Xi are expected to exchange opinions on a wide range of international and regional problems, as well as prospects of boosting Russian-Chinese interaction in various multilateral formats.

The Kremlin says the two countries’ approaches are close or coincide on the most acute international issues: the Syrian settlement, the Iranian nuclear problem, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the crisis in Ukraine. The states cooperate in such organizations as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), the UN, the G20 and other international organizations.