Glad to see warming US-Russia ties, Xi Jinping tells Putin as China defends Russian oil imports

US President Donald Trump said he would be willing to meet Putin, even if the Russian president hadn’t yet agreed to also sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Signalling his interest in brokering a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Trump said: “I will do whatever I can to stop the killing.”

In a phone conversation, Xi set out Beijing’s position on Ukraine to Putin, describing it as a set of complex issues with no simple solutions, Bloomberg report said citing Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

The development comes shortly after China defended its imports of Russian oil as justified and legitimate, resisting threats of secondary tariffs by the US for any country that trades with Russia.

“It is legitimate and lawful for China to conduct normal economic, trade and energy cooperation with all countries around the world, including Russia,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday in a statement to Bloomberg News.

“We will continue to adopt reasonable energy security measures in accordance with our national interests.”

China’s imports from Russia rose in July to $10.06 billion — the highest level since March. But overall this year, imports from Russia are still down 7.7% compared to the same period in 2024, the report said citing the customs data.

When asked about Trump’s comments on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News that tariffs on China over oil purchases “could be on the table at some point.”

The US-China ties have steadied after the two sides agreed to put sky-high tariffs on hold as they seek to negotiate an agreement.

Earlier this week, Trump said he was getting “very close” to a deal with China to extend the trade truce, which is due to expire on Tuesday.