ST.PETERSBURG, June 23, 2016 (Xinhua) -- President of Xinhua News Agency Cai Mingzhao (R) shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St.Petersburg of Russia, June 17, 2016. Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an hour-long exclusive interview with Xinhua President Cai Mingzhao ahead of his upcoming visit to China, elaborated his views on bilateral ties, China-Russia trade, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and international cooperation, among other issues. (Xinhua/Bai Xueqi)
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Russia and China are "close allies" with their ties running at a very high level and bilateral cooperation expanding steadily, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Xinhua.
"We see each other as close allies, so of course we always listen to each other, by this I mean we keep in mind each other's interests," he said in an hour-long exclusive interview here with Xinhua President Cai Mingzhao ahead of his Saturday state visit to China.
He noted that mutual trust between Moscow and Beijing has reached an unprecedented level and laid a solid foundation for bilateral cooperation, which now covers a variety of areas including trade, energy and infrastructure.
Although Russia and China cannot always reach consensus on difficult issues quickly, they can make them -- however difficult they are -- serve the common purpose of promoting bilateral cooperation, so they are always able to find solutions, added the Russian president.
