MOSCOW
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his country has identified “three problems” in its relations with China.
Speaking with his Belarusian counterpart Aleksandr Lukashenko at a meeting in Beijing ahead of their attendance of a military parade marking the 80th-anniversary of the end of World War II, Putin said that “as for bilateral relations, it is surprising that we have, as I reviewed this yesterday, almost no issues, even fewer than Russia has with China. Although today we identified three problems with China, which I will tell you about later. We are ready to move forward in this direction.”
Putin also praised bilateral ties with Belarus, noting that trade turnover between the two countries exceeds $50 billion.
Lukashenko congratulated Putin on his summit last month with US President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska.
“I would like to congratulate you on having an excellent meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska. We applauded you – both sides, because there is no need to say that one has won and the other lost – no, you worked great together,” he said.
“I looked at the Ukraine issue: they have nothing to counter. They only shout in the West: “Bad, bad.” Well, things are always bad with them. I think they will also become wiser and join the initiatives that you outlined with the US president,” he added.
Putin also had a bilateral meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev which focused on bilateral ties, according to a Kremlin statement.
