China, Russia leaders to hold virtual meeting on Wednesday

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a virtual meeting on Wednesday to discuss international issues as Russia faces condemnation from the West for its military aggression at the Ukraine border.

“President Xi Jinping will have a virtual summit with President Putin on December 15, Beijing time. The two heads of state will take stock of the bilateral relations and cooperation outcomes over this year, make top-level design for the relations next year, and exchange views on major international and regional issues of common concern,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a briefing on Monday.

Wang did not specify what topics the two leaders will be discussing but said their talk is expected to “provide more stability and positive energy for the complex and fluid international landscape.”

Putin’s meeting with Xi comes about one week after he met with President Biden virtually. During the two-hour video call, Biden warned Putin against invading Ukraine.

On Monday, Russia stepped up its rhetoric, saying it may be forced to deploy nuclear missiles in Europe in response to what it perceives to be NATO’s intentions to take similar actions.

“Lack of progress towards a political and diplomatic solution to this problem will lead to our response being of a military and technical military nature,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that ongoing aggression from Russia will make an in-person meeting between Putin and Biden “pretty unlikely.”

“In the absence of de-escalation and taking the diplomatic path, seems pretty unlikely,” Blinken said of a possible face-to-face meeting between the U.S. and Russia. “There’s no prohibition against meeting in person with Mr. Putin. If he’s once again sending troops into Ukraine, hard to imagine that would be a good context for a meeting.”