SpaceWar.com reports: “Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday met top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu in Beijing, Chinese state media said.

Shoigu’s trip comes days after Xi spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, with the Chinese leader hailing Moscow’s ‘positive efforts to defuse’ the Ukraine crisis.

Speaking to Shoigu at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Xi called China and Russia ‘friendly neighbours’ and said the two sides would ‘maintain close communication at all levels’, according to Xinhua.

Xi added that the countries would this year implement a ‘series of important agendas’ for China-Russia ties.

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi also attended the talks.

Moscow and Beijing have strengthened military and trade ties since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, though China has sought to depict itself as a neutral party amid the three-year conflict…”