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MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister says President Vladimir Putin's planned trip to China will give powerful new impulse to ties between the two nations.
Speaking Tuesday at a Moscow conference, Sergey Lavrov described expanding ties with China as Russia's top foreign policy priority.
Lavrov said the two nations share opposition to a unipolar world, a veiled reference to perceived U.S. global domination.
He added that Moscow and Beijing oppose "double standards" as well as attempts at "diktat and blackmail" in global affairs.
Amid a bitter strain in Russia-West relations over the Ukrainian crisis, the Kremlin has sought to bolster ties with Beijing to soften the impact of Western sanctions.
Putin is set to visit China in June on a trip intended to further boost cooperation in the energy sphere and other areas.
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