【By Observer News, Xiong Chaoran】On the evening of September 3, Russian President Putin held a press conference at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing before ending his four-day visit to China, and answered questions from journalists.

According to "Russia Today" (RT), Putin clarified that Russia itself does not oppose providing security guarantees to Ukraine, but these guarantees should not harm the security interests of other countries, including Russia. He stated that the Kremlin still insists that Ukraine should not join NATO, but can join the EU. At the same time, he also refuted the claim that the so-called "territory for security guarantees" was discussed during the recent Russia-US meeting in Alaska.

"Frankly speaking, I want to emphasize that we are more fighting for the right of the people living on these territories to use their native language and live within their own culture and traditions than for territory," he said as an example, pointing out that residents in the regions of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson voted overwhelmingly in referendums to decide to join Russia, "this is the meaning of democracy."

Putin said that given U.S. President Trump's sincere desire to find a solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, "a glimmer of light has appeared at the end of the tunnel." Putin also reiterated that he is generally willing to meet with Zelenskyy, including a meeting in Moscow, but he stated that Zelenskyy's legitimacy as the leader of Ukraine still remains a huge question mark.

On September 3, Putin held a press conference before concluding his visit to China. Kremlin website

According to RT's report the day before (September 2), Turkish President Erdogan said that Turkey has been in contact with both Russia and Ukraine, hoping to facilitate talks between the two countries' leaders. Erdogan revealed that he had recently communicated with Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, but the two sides were not yet ready for a meeting.

Erdogan said that during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, he discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict with Putin. He stated that Turkey advocates "peace-focused dialogue," and in previous rounds of negotiations held in Istanbul, Turkey has helped Russia and Ukraine achieve "specific results such as the exchange of prisoners."

Erdogan said, "Our goal is to gradually elevate the level of negotiations, preferably to the leadership level." However, Erdogan said that from his recent conversations with Putin and Zelenskyy, he judged that although both sides showed a positive attitude, they were still "not yet ready for a meeting."

According to reports, during the press conference held on the evening of September 3, Putin spoke about the results of his visit to China, stating that the new agreement between Russia and China on increasing Russian pipeline gas supply would bring a competitive advantage to China, as these gas supplies would be priced lower than those offered to European customers.

"I want to emphasize again, they will obtain the product at a reasonable market price, not the inflated prices we currently see in the eurozone," Putin said: "And most importantly, these supplies are stable and reliable. Everyone is satisfied with this result, and honestly, I am too. After all, Gazprom is one of our leading enterprises, which has been continuously expanding new markets."

After being shelved for many years, on September 2, Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom, announced that Russia and China have signed a memorandum regarding the construction of the "Power of Siberia-2" gas pipeline. Once completed, Russia will transport up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually to China through Mongolia for 30 years.

Putin introduced at the press conference that, thanks to the new gas supply agreement with China, Russia's annual gas exports to China will exceed 100 billion cubic meters.

He said, "Through the 'Power of Siberia-2' pipeline passing through Mongolia, the annual gas supply will reach 50 billion cubic meters. Currently, the annual gas supply through the 'Power of Siberia' pipeline is 38 billion cubic meters, and the supply through several other lines will also increase. Together, the total gas supply to China will exceed 100 billion cubic meters."

Putin also emphasized that this new gas agreement is beneficial to both Russia and China, and there is no situation where "one side is giving to the other."

According to a news release from the Kremlin, Putin mentioned that despite economic downturns in many major economies, including the EU, the global economy is still growing, with Asia-Pacific region performing particularly well. At the same time, global energy demand continues to rise, and China, as a main driver of global economic growth, its economic scale growth means further expansion of energy demand.

"The continuous growth of China's economy has created energy demand, and Russia has the resource supply capability to meet these demands," he recalled, "this cooperation has indeed been advanced for a long time, and our consultations with Chinese partners have also lasted a long time, during which several potential plans were studied, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, and the negotiations took several years."

Putin pointed out, "In the end, this cooperation was not achieved just because of our visit to China. It is the result of the years of efforts by the economic entities of both sides."

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