MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin spoke on Friday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping amid signs of Beijing’s impatience over the wider political and economic impact of Russia’s struggling invasion of Ukraine.

Their end-of-year video call, the first talks since Mr Xi and Mr Putin met in person in Uzbekistan in September, underscores Moscow’s deepening dependence on Beijing.

Mr Putin said on Friday he was expecting Chinese President Xi Jinping to make a state visit to Russia in spring 2023, in what would be a public show of solidarity from Beijing amid Russia’s flailing military campaign.

In introductory remarks from a video conference between the two leaders broadcast on state television, Mr Putin said: “We are expecting you, dear Mr Chairman, dear friend, we are expecting you next spring on a state visit to Moscow.”

He said the visit would “demonstrate to the world the closeness of Russian-Chinese relations”.

Speaking for around eight minutes, Mr Putin said Russia-China relations were growing in importance as a stabilising factor, and that he aimed to deepen military cooperation between the two countries.

“We aim to strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China,” Mr Putin told Mr Xi, as he hailed the efforts of Moscow and Beijing to counter “unprecedented Western pressure and provocations”.

In a response that lasted around a quarter as long, Mr Xi said China was ready to increase strategic cooperation with Russia against the backdrop of what he called a “difficult” situation in the world at large.

Mr Xi told Mr Putin that the road to peace talks on Ukraine would not be smooth and that China would continue to uphold its “objective and fair stance” on the issue, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Mr Xi also thanked Mr Putin for sending a message of congratulations after a congress of China’s ruling Communist Party in October that handed him a precedent-defying third term in power.

China stood ready to expand the “strategic partnership”, Mr Xi said.

The nations started the year with a joint declaration of a “no limits” partnership at a February summit on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, as both sought to challenge the US power and push for a multipolar world.

Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine weeks later prompted China’s ambassador to the US to clarify that there was indeed a “bottom line” to the relationship.

Beijing has refused to publicly condemn the war, instead accusing the US of provoking Russia by pushing to expand the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).

But with the conflict in Ukraine showing little sign of ending any time soon, Mr Xi has taken steps to distance himself from Mr Putin.

China signed off on a communique at last month’s Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Bali that said “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine”.

A summit between Mr Xi and US President Joe Biden at the G-20 also helped ease tensions between the world’s two biggest powers, with the pair jointly chastising the Kremlin for loose talk of nuclear war over Ukraine.

With its economy hit by unprecedented sanctions from the US, Europe and their allies, Russia is increasingly turning to China for imports and as a buyer for oil redirected away from European markets.

Mr Putin said that Russia had become one of China’s leading suppliers of oil and gas, with 13.8 billion cubic metres of gas shipped to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline in the first 11 months of 2022.

Mr Putin said: “According to the results of this year, Russia has become one of the leaders in oil exports to China.”

Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as China’s top crude supplier last month.

Mr Putin added that Russia was China’s second-largest supplier of pipeline gas and fourth-largest of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

He said that in December, shipments had been 18 per cent above daily contractual obligations.

Russian global imports will decline this year by around 19 per cent compared to 2021 and total exports will fall by almost 16 per cent, according to the International Monetary Fund.

In contrast, Russia’s exports to China jumped 23 per cent in the first nine months of 2022 compared to the same period a year earlier, IMF data shows.

Beijing has so far withheld material support for Moscow’s war effort, mindful of the risk of secondary sanctions and saying the crisis should be solved through dialogue.

China and Russia gave alternative accounts of a phone call between Mr Xi and Mr Putin in June.

While the Kremlin version implied the Chinese President endorsed Mr Putin’s justification for invading Ukraine, Beijing’s readout emphasised Mr Xi’s promotion of “world peace and the stability of global economic order”, and left out any reference to military-technical cooperation.

At their face-to-face meeting in September, Mr Putin told Mr Xi that he understood Beijing’s “questions and concerns” about his invasion, a rare admission of tensions between them.

In the following weeks, Chinese officials and diplomats, including Mr Xi himself, expressed their opposition to the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine - a stance that outlines China’s red lines without abandoning Russia altogether.

Still, Mr Xi needs Mr Putin’s support in China’s claims over Taiwan, as well as other issues where Beijing clashes with the US and Europe. 

At their September meeting, Mr Putin praised what he calls Mr Xi’s “balanced” position on the Ukraine war, while also reiterating Moscow’s support for Beijing’s claim to Taiwan as part of its “one China” policy.

The call between Mr Putin and Mr Xi took place after the Chinese leader met former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Beijing last week.

Mr Xi said then that China wanted to see talks on Ukraine and has been “actively promoting peace.” BLOOMBERG, REUTERS, AFP