Russian President Vladimir Putin briefed Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a video call on his recent conversation with US President Joe Biden, describing it as substantive and useful, Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday.
“Our president briefed the [Chinese] chairman on his recent video call with US President Joe Biden. Our president pointed out that on the whole, the conversation had been substantive and useful,” he said.
Putin also told the Chinese leader that he had drawn Biden’s attention to increasing threats for Russia’s national interests stemming from attempts by the US and NATO “to continue moving their military infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders.”
“In this regard, our president highlighted the need to promptly launch serious talks with the United States and NATO in order to develop international legal security guarantees for our country that would rule out the alliance’s further eastward expansion and the deployment of weapons threatening Russia particularly in Ukraine and other neighboring states,” the Kremlin aide stressed.
Ushakov noted that Putin and Xi Jinping have noted the progress in improving the infrastructure on the Russian-Chinese border. “It was also noted that last year an important step forward was made in improving the infrastructure on the Russian-Chinese border,” he said.
The official specified that after many years of work the construction of a motorway bridge crossing across the Amur River near Blagoveshchensk and Heihe was completed, the construction of a railway bridge across the Amur near checkpoints Nizhneleninskoye and Tongjiang is nearing completion. “It is difficult to overestimate the significance of these two projects since until now there wasn’t a single permanent bridge along the entire section of the border between the countries along the Amur and Ussuri rivers,” the aide explained.
Considering the importance of these projects, an understanding was reached that next year the heads of state will participate in the ceremony of opening traffic on one of the bridges across the Amur in a videoconference format, the aide concluded.
Putin and his Chinese counterpart discussed the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline project during the talks, Ushakov said.
“Yes, the issue was mentioned,” he said when asked whether the leaders spoke about the prospects of gas supplies via Power of Siberia 2.
It was noted that “the leaders had discussed the issue during online contacts this year,” Ushakov added.
Putin tasked Gazprom with shifting to the initial stage of the implementation of the Power of Siberia 2 project last spring. The pipeline will allow uniting gas transport systems of Russia’s east and west. Moreover, the company will be able to deliver up to 50 bln cubic meters of gas via Mongolia to China through the pipeline, and provide gas to a number of Russian regions.
