Xi tells Putin confident Russians will support him in 2024 election

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that he is convinced that Russians will support him in the presidential election scheduled for next year, even if the Kremlin chief is still has not said whether he will try to win a new mandate.

Putin, who came to power on the last day of 1999 when Boris Yeltsin resigned, is the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Josef Stalin.

“I know that Russia will hold a presidential election,” Xi told Putin in Mandarin. “Under your strong leadership, Russia has made great strides in its prosperous development. I am confident that the Russian people will continue to give him their unwavering support.”

As Xi’s words were translated into Russian, Putin looked Xi in the eye and smiled briefly.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quick to point out that Xi had not specifically said Putin would take part in next year’s election, but added that the Kremlin shared Xi’s confidence in Russian support for Putin.

Xi and Putin spoke privately and later had dinner together. The menu included blini with quail and mushrooms; sterlet sturgeon soup; pomegranate sorbet, nelma — a type of white Arctic salmon — with vegetables; venison with cherry sauce; Pavlova; and wines from the Krasnodar region in southern Russia.

When Putin came to power, he promised to end the chaos that gripped Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, but last year’s invasion of Ukraine posed by far his government’s greatest challenge.

The war ushered in the most serious confrontation with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russia’s military suffered a series of defeats in Ukraine and the West imposed the toughest ever sanctions on the Russian economy, from 2. 1 trillion dollars.

China’s “boundless” partnership with Russia is being closely watched by the rest of the world, with the US concerned that Beijing could send weapons to Moscow.

China denies that possibility, and also criticizes what it sees as the West’s desire to encourage war in Ukraine.

Xi was the first leader to meet with the Russian president since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him on Friday (17) for the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia during the invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow said the indictment was one of several “clearly hostile displays” and had opened criminal proceedings against the prosecutor and ICC judges. Beijing said the warrant reflected double standards.

Xi called Putin a “dear friend,” and Putin used the same term for his guest.

“In recent years, China has taken a tremendous leap forward in its development,” Putin said. “It sparks genuine interest around the world, even we envy them a little bit.”