Xi to Visit Russia for BRICS Summit    09/13 06:11

   

   MOSCOW (AP) -- Chinese leader Xi Jinping will visit Russia next month for a 
summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, China's Foreign Minister Wang 
Yi confirmed Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter 
the West's global influence.

   Xi's visit to Russia will be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into 
Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the 
conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin's contentions that Russia's action was 
provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by 
Moscow for weapons production.

   Wang Yi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg Thursday 
and the two hailed ties between the two countries. The Chinese foreign minister 
said that Xi "happily accepted" Putin's invite to attend the BRICS summit in 
the Russian city of Kazan in October.

   Putin, in turn, announced that the two will also sit down for a bilateral 
meeting in Kazan and discuss various aspects of the Russia-China relations, 
which "are developing quite successfully" and "in all directions."

   Xi last visited Russia in March 2023 and Putin reciprocated with his own 
trip to China in Oct. that year. The two leaders have since also met in Beijing 
in May, where Putin took the first foreign trip of his fifth presidential term, 
and in Kazakhstan in July.

   After launching what the Kremlin insists on calling a "special military 
operation" in Ukraine, Russia has become increasingly dependent economically on 
China as Western sanctions cut its access to much of the international trading 
system. China's increased trade with Russia, totaling $240 billion last year, 
has helped the country mitigate some of the worst blows from the sanctions.

   Moscow has diverted the bulk of its energy exports to China and relied on 
Chinese companies to import high-tech components for Russian military 
industries to circumvent Western sanctions.

   The two countries have also deepened their military ties in the last two 
years.

   The BRICS alliance was founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, 
with South Africa joining in 2010. It has recently undergone an expansion and 
now includes Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia 
has said it's considering joining, and Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally 
applied.

   BRICS has a stated aim to amplify the voice of major emerging economies to 
counterbalance the Western-led global order. Its founding members have called 
for a fairer world order and the reform of international institutions like the 
United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.