From May 8 to 10, at the invitation of the Russia-China Friendship Association (RCFA), Yang Wanming, President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), led a delegation to visit Moscow and Volgograd, Russia, to attend the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War. During the visit, Yang Wanming met with Ivan Melnikov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma and Chairman of the RCFA; Galina Kulikova, First Deputy Chairperson of the RCFA and Recipient of China's Friendship Medal; Sergey Gavrilov, Deputy Chairman of the RCFA, Member of the State Duma of Russia, and Chairman of the Russia-China MP Friendship Group of the Russian National Duma; Kirill Babaev, Deputy Chairman of the RCFA and Director of the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Anna Pisemskaya, Deputy Governor of the Volgograd region; Alexander Korotkov, Chairman of the RCFA Volgograd Branch and Rector of Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University (VSSPU); and Yury Starovatykh, former Mayor of Volgograd and Chair of the Volgograd Branch of the Russian Peace Foundation. He also attended the friendship pine tree planting event with activists of the RCFA and university students from both countries.

(Attending the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War)

(Meeting with Ivan Melnikov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma and Chairman of the RCFA)

During the meetings, Yang Wanming stated that in recent years, under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin, the depth, breadth, and resilience of China-Russia relations have continued to grow. The two countries have found a new path of state-to-state interactions between neighboring major countries, which features permanent good-neighborly friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation.

This is the 11th visit to Russia by President Xi Jinping since becoming president. The two countries signed the Joint Statement Between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Further Deepening the China-Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era on the Occasion of the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War and the Founding of the United Nations, which charts the course for the future development of China-Russia relations. Yang Wanming noted that 80 years ago, China and the Soviet Union were respectively the main battlefields in Asia and Europe during the World War II. The Chinese and Russian peoples fought shoulder to shoulder with a common hatred of the enemy, forging a profound friendship with their blood and lives, which has become an inexhaustible source of China-Russia friendship for generations to come.

Currently, the rise of unilateralism and hegemonic and bullying practices in the international community is seriously impacting the world order. The independent, mature and resilient China-Russia relationship not only brings great benefits to the two peoples but also makes important contributions to maintaining global strategic stability, upholding international fairness and justice, guiding the world to safeguard the post-war international order, promoting a multipolar world, and facilitating the restructuring of the international political landscape.

(Meeting with Anna Pisemskaya, Deputy Governor of the Volgograd region)

Yang Wanming emphasized that people-to-people friendship has laid a solid foundation of public support for China-Russia relations and has always been an important pillar driving the forward development of bilateral relations. Subnational cooperation is an important component of China-Russia relations. Local governments of the two countries have actively engaged in dialogue and exchanges within the framework of multilateral platforms such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and have made solid progress in advancing pragmatic cooperation. The CPAFFC is willing to work closely with all sectors in Russia to strengthen people-to-people exchanges, enhance mutual understanding and friendship, fully tap the potential of subnational cooperation, and add new luster to the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era. In his remarks at the friendship pine tree planting event with activists of the RCFA and university students from China and Russia held at VSSPU, Yang Wanming expressed his hopes for the youth of both countries to carry forward the spirit of the generations-long China-Russia friendship, nourish the tree of China-Russia friendship with the power of youth, and let the traditional friendship between the two countries be passed down from generation to generation. 

(Laying wreaths at the Eternal Flame in the Hall of Military Glory on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd and at the grave of Soviet Marshal Vasily Chuikov, and planting friendship pines with Anna Pisemskaya, Deputy Governor of the Volgograd region, activists of the RCFA, and university students from China and Russia at VSSPU)

The Russian side stated that on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War, President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin and his attendance at the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War are of great and lofty historical significance. The visit once again demonstrated the unprecedentedly high level of mutual trust, mutual understanding, and mutual support in today's Russia-China relations. They believed that this visit would inject new impetus into the development of the Russia-China comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era and give a strong boost to the international order that is more just and equitable. People-to-people friendship is the driving force behind the development of Russia-China relations. The RCFA and its local branches are willing to maintain close exchanges with the CPAFFC, work together to enhance mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries, and pool their strengths to deepen Russia-China relations.

During the visit, the delegation also laid wreaths at the Eternal Flame in the Hall of Military Glory on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd and at the grave of Soviet Marshal Vasily Chuikov to commemorate the martyrs and heroes who sacrificed their lives in the Battle of Stalingrad.