Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to the People’s Republic of China

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was received by President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping
Photo: MFA

Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to the People’s Republic of China.

On April 14-15, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid an official visit to the People’s Republic of China. He was received by President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping and held extensive talks with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The head of the Chinese state welcomed the Russian Minister’s visit and spoke of the unprecedented level of development in bilateral relations, noting the significant results achieved over 30 years of strategic cooperation, underpinned by the Treaty of Good-Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation of July 16, 2001, which has been implemented successfully for a quarter of a century.

Sergey Lavrov conveyed to Xi Jinping friendly greetings and best wishes from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who is preparing to pay an official visit to China in the first half of 2026. The Russian Foreign Minister emphasised the guiding role of leader-level diplomacy in advancing Russian-Chinese ties across the board. 

During the talks, Sergey Lavrov and Wang Yi held an in-depth exchange of views on a wide range of bilateral and international issues of mutual interest. 

The officials focused on pressing issues, including the situation around Iran, the Ukraine crisis and developments in Latin American region. They stressed the importance of strengthening coordination between Moscow and Beijing on the international stage, including at the UN and the UN Security Council, the SCO, BRICS, APEC, the G20 and other multilateral frameworks. The ministers also addressed issues related to maintaining peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region and discussed collaboration in the post-Soviet space. 

The talks were held in the friendly, trust-based and constructive atmosphere characteristic of Russian-Chinese relations.

Photo: MFA

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping

Beijing, April 15, 2026

Mr President,

I would like to express our sincere appreciation for your kind words and this meeting. They are evidence of your personal attention to the development of mutually beneficial strategic relations with the Russian Federation, and to the issues that will be discussed at the next summit during the upcoming visit of President of Russia Vladimir Putin to the People’s Republic of China. I held a detailed discussion of preparations for the next vital visit with my friend, Wang Yi, yesterday.

Thanks to the diplomacy pursued by our leaders, you and President Putin, our relations have demonstrated high resilience to the economic and geopolitical shocks that have swept the world, as you have pointed out. Regrettably, these differences are increasingly acquiring a military dimension. In this situation, relations between Russia and China, which are playing a stabilising role in international affairs, are becoming increasingly important for the rest of the world, for the Global Majority, which does not want problems and turbulence but peaceful conditions for sustainable and long-term development. We have held an in-depth discussion in this context and will report to you about its results today.

Our bilateral relations are growing in trade, the economy, investment, humanitarian, cultural and other spheres. We discussed regional and international issues  in terms of Russia and China’s future bilateral actions, as well as in light of our activities at the UN, the UN Security Council, the SCO, BRICS, G20 and APEC.

As it was noted yesterday, we  have very good roadmaps for advancing in all directions which you and President Putin have outlined for the coming period.

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