(Reuters) -China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko discussed the Ukraine crisis in talks on Wednesday and Wang reaffirmed Beijing’s strong ties with Moscow, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Both exchanged views on the crisis but the ministry statement did not disclose details of the discussion.
Wang reiterated China and Russia’s strong relations, that were not affected by “changes in the international situation”.
“Both sides should make joint efforts to coordinate cooperation in various fields and exchanges at all levels,” he said, without elaboration.
Russia’s RIA agency first reported that Rudenko was in Beijing for the meeting.
The visit takes place as Russia’s war in Ukraine appeared to take a dangerous new turn, with NATO and South Korea expressing alarm that North Korean troops could soon be joining Moscow’s side.
Rudenko has been involved in developing Russian ties with North Korea after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022. He was also a member of the Russian delegations at peace negotiations with Ukraine early in the war.
Two months before President Vladimir Putin sent his troops to Ukraine, Rudenko said that countries of the post-Soviet space will always be among Russia’s geopolitical priorities.
“Wherever these countries go, no matter how they develop, they will always be a priority, among our geopolitical priorities, regardless of the geopolitical context,” RIA cited Rudenko as saying in December 2021.
“This is part of our former common Soviet past.”
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Michael Perry, William Maclean)
