Russia and China have a great track record of working together on the world stage, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday. He made his comments during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the Kremlin. “We would like to express satisfaction with the way our relations are developing, including with the direct support of our respective foreign ministries,” Putin said. Putin added he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during World War II victory celebrations in Moscow on May 9. “We will have an opportunity to discuss the current state of bilateral relations and our interaction on international venues, primarily the UN – the UN Security Council – as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS, and a number of other platforms where we work together with great success,” Putin said. Wang stressed that bilateral relations are based on “mutual trust” and that both countries will continue to “safeguard the common interests of both sides in international and regional affairs.” “The Chinese-Russian cooperation is never directed against any third party and is never subject to external interference,” Wang said. Wang had a separate meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday. “The sides exchanged opinions about the prospects of resolving the Ukraine crisis. They stressed the need to neutralize the root causes of the conflict,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its website. Beijing has refused to blame Russia for the Ukraine conflict and condemned the Western sanctions imposed on Moscow. China has accused the US of sticking to the outdated “Cold War mentality” that is based on confrontation.