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China’s President in Russia for Talks on Boosting Ties

Russian President Vladimir Putin, (L), shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow, July 3, 2017. photo: Pool via AP/Sergei Chirikov

MOSCOW – Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Russia for talks focusing on expanding cooperation with Moscow just as tensions have flared up in U.S.-China ties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will greet Xi at a Kremlin dinner Monday. Moscow and Beijing will sign dozens of agreements to deepen their cooperation during Xi’s two-day trip.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, described the current Russia-China relations as “the best in history.”

Before heading to Moscow, Xi warned President Donald Trump in a call Monday that “some negative factors” are hurting U.S.-China relations, as tensions soared over the sailing of a U.S. destroyer within the territorial seas limit of a Chinese-claimed island in the South China Sea.

Trump, Putin and Xi will attend the Group of 20 summit in Germany later this week.