Press conference of Vladimir Putin in Beijing. Main

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at a press conference following negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which took place on the sidelines of the Third Belt and Road International Forum in Beijing. During a conversation with reporters, the president spoke about the details of the negotiations, answered questions about the situation in the Middle East and commented on the US supply of ATACMS long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine. We have collected Putin’s main statements from the press conference.

The conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping lasted three hours. During this time, the leaders discussed many issues on the bilateral agenda, Putin noted. In particular, the topics of economics, finance, political interaction and collaboration on international platforms were discussed.

“We discussed the situation in the Middle East in some detail. I informed the chairman about the situation that is developing on the Ukrainian track. Also quite detailed. We talked for three hours, so in order to explain everything in detail, we also need three hours,” concluded the President of the Russian Federation.

Putin said that after a business lunch in a limited format, Xi Jinping invited him to talk “face to face.” According to the president, “over a cup of tea” the leaders discussed issues of a “completely confidential nature” for another one and a half to two hours.

The President noted that security threats in the world strengthen Russian-Chinese relations. Putin cited figures for trade turnover between the countries, which he said were “really impressive.” He recalled that in 2019, the goal was set to achieve $200 billion in trade turnover by 2024. The countries have already achieved this volume “ahead of schedule,” the president added.

Putin said Russia ranks second among China’s “non-regional” trading partners. “If we take a formal approach, this is not so, it occupies a much higher place,” since Hong Kong and “the second part of China” (Taiwan. – Vedomosti) are also part of China, the president emphasized. According to him, Russia is second only to the United States in trade turnover with China.

Putin called the “One Belt, One Road” forum a global initiative, emphasizing that Russia is interested in its development.

Putin described the attack on Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza as a humanitarian disaster. “As for the attack, as you said, on the hospital, the tragedy that occurred there, this is a terrible event. Hundreds of dead and hundreds of wounded – this is, of course, a disaster <...> humanitarian nature,” he said.

The President expressed the hope that what happened would become a signal for the “winding down” of the conflict or the beginning of “some kind of contacts and negotiations.” According to him, during conversations with five leaders of Middle Eastern countries, he got the impression that “no one wants to continue, develop the conflict and worsen the situation.” He added that there is also no readiness to develop the conflict into a “large-scale war” in the region. Putin discussed the situation in the Middle East with the leaders of Egypt, Israel, Iran, Palestine and Syria on October 16.

Putin once again recalled that Russia “has always advocated” the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state. He emphasized that Moscow’s position was this even before the worsening of the situation in the Middle East.

“I don’t know whether the current crisis will contribute to the solution of this task, but if it were so, it would be correct, because it would create the conditions for a possible future world for a long historical perspective,” Putin said.

The president also revealed details of the conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, which, according to Putin, took place “on his feet.”

“He is also concerned about the situation that is developing in his region, around Serbia. We share these concerns,” the Russian leader noted.

Commenting on the journalist’s words about Orban’s loss of optimism, Putin said that the Hungarian prime minister is a pragmatic and optimistic person, and did not agree with the opinion that Orban had exhausted his “last optimism.”

During the conversation with the Prime Minister of Hungary, the Ukrainian issue and the possibility of its peaceful settlement were touched upon, Putin noted. “If the Ukrainian side wants a real negotiation process, then it needs to be done not with some theatrical gestures, but the first thing to do is to cancel the decree of the President of Ukraine prohibiting negotiations,” he emphasized. (Zelensky signed such a decree in October 2022. It states the impossibility of negotiations with Putin. – Vedomosti.)

Putin also pointed to a change in the West’s position on the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. He recalled that recently Western leaders called for a “strategic defeat on the battlefield,” but now they advocate resolving the situation peacefully. “This is the right transformation. <...> I will praise you for this. But this is not enough,” the president said.

Putin also rejected accusations against Orban of “pro-Russian sentiments” and emphasized that he is a “pro-Hungarian politician.” According to the president, Orbán is criticized for “having the courage to defend the interests of his people.”

The United States is increasingly drawn into the conflict in Ukraine. The latest deliveries of ATACMS long-range cruise missiles “cause harm and create an additional threat,” Putin noted. He emphasized that Russia will be able to repel Ukrainian attacks with ATACMS missiles.

According to the president, the transfer of Western weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine “is fundamentally not able to change the situation on the contact line at all.” Weapons deliveries “simply prolong the agony” of Ukraine, he said.

Putin said the United States was becoming increasingly “personally drawn” into the conflict. “And let no one say that they have nothing to do with this. We believe that they have,” the president emphasized. In this regard, on Putin’s instructions, the Russian Aerospace Forces are beginning to constantly patrol the airspace over the Black Sea with aircraft equipped with Kinzhal systems.

Putin also found the claims that Russia was allegedly “losing the war” in Ukraine ridiculous. “Well, if Russia lost the war, then why supply ATACMS? Let [президент США Джо Байден] takes back ATACMS, all other weapons, sits down for pancakes, comes to tea party. If the war is lost, well, what are we talking about, then why ATACMS? Well, funny,” he said.