Russia’s Putin to meet with China President Xi as Ukraine war drags on

WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he will soon meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping as the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine drags on. “Soon enough we will have some events and there will be a meeting with the Chinese President [Xi Jinping],” Putin said during a conference with students in Russia. “He [Xi] calls me his friend, and I am happy to call him my friend, because this is a man who personally does a lot for the development of Russian-Chinese relations and cooperation in different areas,” Putin said. Since Russia’s invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor, Washington…