After the German Chancellor’s remarks, the Chinese President will visit Russia on March 20

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia next week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Friday, a day after the German chancellor’s statements about the war in Ukraine and his demand for Beijing not to support Moscow.

And the ministry said in a statement, according to the French news agency, that "At the invitation of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russia from March 20 to 22"without adding further details.

In another context, Reuters reported that the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement today that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will visit China from March 26 to 31 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

Yesterday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the economic daily Handelsblatt that he did not expect the war in Ukraine to end soon, and confirmed that Berlin would support Kiev with money and weapons as necessary.

The newspaper quoted Schultz as saying "We must be prepared for a protracted war, even if we hope it will end soon"adding that it is still very important that China does not supply weapons to Russia.