Chinese President Xi Jinping told senior Kremlin aide Sergei Shoigu on Friday that the two countries were “true friends like steel repeatedly tempered by fire”, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“Both sides should continue to strengthen their coordination in international and regional matters,” Xi told the secretary of Russia’s Security Council.
Earlier this week, Russian and US officials met in Turkey to discuss efforts to normalise ties, and the previous week Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met in Saudi Arabia, where they discussed ways to end the war.
Officials have also said a face-to-face meeting between Donald Trump and Putin is being arranged.
During their meeting, Shoigu told Xi that the relations between the two sides were at “an unprecedentedly high level”, adding that Russia valued the agreements it had reached with China and aimed to deepen them.
