Praises President Xi Jinping and BRI, Vladimir Putin Offers Russia Northern Route

President Xi Jinping welcomed President Putin at the BRI Meeting. (Source: TASS/Sergei Savostyanov)

JAKARTA - President Vladimir Putin praised his friend President Xi Jinping and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), while attending the forum's 3rd summit at the Great Hall of the Peole, Beijing, offering a route through the Russian North Sea which he considered could strengthen east and west trade.

Praising the BRI for uniting the world, President Putin said Russia could play an important role in the revival of China's ancient Silk Road in modern times.

"Russia and China, like most countries in the world, share the desire for equal and mutually beneficial cooperation to achieve universal, long-term, sustainable economic progress and social prosperity, while respecting the diversity of civilizations and the rights of each country. "The country must follow its own development model," said President Putin, as reported by Reuters, October 18.

Furthermore, President Putin said that the BRI suited Russia, which according to him was developing a number of transportation infrastructure to traverse the world's largest country, especially the Northern Sea Route which stretches from Murmansk near the Russian border with Norway eastward to the Bering Strait near Alaska (United States).

"Regarding the Northern Sea Route, Russia not only offers its partners to actively use its transit potential, I would say further: we invite interested countries to directly participate in its development. We are ready to provide navigation and communications, reliable icebreakers and supplies logistics," explained President Putin.

"Starting next year, navigation of ice-class cargo ships along the Northern Sea Route will be possible all year round," he continued.

It is known that during this visit President Putin was accompanied by a number of senior Moscow delegations.

Putin, who has attended previous BRI summits, brought a senior delegation from Moscow, such as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin Economic Advisor Maxim Oreshkin, Foreign Policy Advisor Kremlin Yuri Ushakov, Minister of Economy Maxim Reshetnikov and Russian Ambassador to China Igor Morgulov.