China has denied that president Xi Jinping said that Vladimir Putin would regret his invasion of Ukraine during wide-ranging talks with President Donald Trump during his visit to Beijing last week.
Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a reporter: “The information you mentioned does not match the facts and is completely fabricated out of thin air.”
The report by the Financial Times emerged just hours before Putin is due to arrive in Beijing for his own two-day summit with Xi.
Xi is reported to have made the remarks during wide-ranging talks between the US and Chinese delegations in Beijing, while Trump suggested that the three leaders should co-operate against the International Criminal Court.
Putin said ahead of his visit today that Russia and China are ready to support each other on a wide range of issues, including national unity and protection of sovereignty.
The Kremlin says the two sides will discuss the proposed Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, which could one day deliver an additional 50 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year from Russia’s Arctic gas fields via Mongolia to China.
