Vladimir Putin has greeted China’s Xi Jinping at the Kremlin, with the two presidents calling each other “dear friend” as they shook hands at the outset of the latter’s first state visit to Moscow in four years.
Mr Putin claimed he would “certainly discuss” China’s 12-point peace plan for the war in Ukraine and treat it “with respect”, insisting that Moscow was “always open to negotiations” in the war it launched one year ago.
The visit comes just days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Mr Putin’s arrest over war crimes in Ukraine.
In a largely symbolic retort, issued as Mr Xi touched down in Moscow, Russia’s investigative committee announced that it had launched a criminal investigation into the ICC prosecutor and judges who had issued the arrest warrant.
The committee echoed a claim made hours earlier by China’s foreign ministry that the ICC should avoid “double standards” with its arrest warrant – which relates to the illegal deportation of hundreds of children from Ukraine – and respect immunity for heads of state under international law.
