Xi, Putin meet as Russia kicks off biggest ever war games

FE Team | Published: September 11, 2018 21:25:18

CHITA, Russia, Sept 11 (Al Jazeera): Russia's President Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Tuesday.
The meeting, in which the leaders discussed the "development of Russia-Chinese relations", came as Russia began its largest military drills with hundreds of thousands of Russian troops taking part along with Chinese soldiers.
Putin said Moscow has a "trusting relationship" with Beijing "in politics, security and defence", while Xi said both countries would continue to "make joint efforts to … push the China-Russia relationship up to a new height".
The three day meeting in Vladivostok brings together the leaders of Russia, China, Japan and South Korea, as well five thousand delegates from 60 countries.
It is the two leaders' third meeting and comes amid an escalating US-China trade war and US-led sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
An AFP report adds: Russia launched Tuesday what it called its largest ever military drills, with hundreds of thousands of troops taking part along with Chinese soldiers in a show of force NATO condemned as a rehearsal for "large-scale conflict."
President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the games after hosting an economic forum in Russia's far eastern city Vladivostok where his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is one of the prominent guests.
The week-long war games dubbed "Vostok-2018?(East-2018) "have kicked off" in far eastern Russia, the defence ministry said.