Kremlin Confirms Preparations for Possible Meeting Between Putin, Trump, and Xi Jinping in Shenzhen

The Kremlin has officially confirmed that diplomatic work is underway in Russia to organize a potential trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, the US, and China — Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and Xi Jinping. According to the publication, this was stated by Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov in an interview with the British newspaper Financial Times. «Work to organize such a meeting is already underway», — he emphasized. Thus, Moscow has publicly outlined for the first time the launch of a negotiation track that diplomatic circles consider potentially one of the most significant top-level contacts of the past decade.

Venue and Timing: APEC Summit in Shenzhen

According to available data, the historic summit is planned to be held in November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. The upcoming APEC leaders' meeting will take place on November 18–19 in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, which is considered one of the PRC's key technological hubs. The choice of venue is no accident: Donald Trump himself previously voiced the idea of holding a trilateral contact with the leaders of Russia and China specifically on Chinese territory, making the Shenzhen format a logical continuation of his initiative.

Varying Degrees of Publicity: Beijing and Washington

The positions of the other two parties still differ noticeably in their degree of openness. In response to a request from the Financial Times, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that Beijing maintains regular contacts with relevant parties regarding the meeting between the leaders of China and Russia, but refrained from directly mentioning a trilateral format involving the US president. The publication, in turn, sent an official request to the US administration regarding the details of the upcoming contact and Washington's final plans; at the time of material preparation, no public response from the White House had been received. Thus, for now, only the Russian side has formulated confirmation in the most direct form.

Dialogue Through Special Envoys

The channel for preparing the meeting appears to pass through the level of aides and special envoys. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov noted that during Vladimir Putin's meeting with US leader's special envoy Steve Witkoff, the possibilities of holding precisely a trilateral dialogue involving Xi Jinping and Donald Trump on the sidelines of the November forum were discussed. This indicates that technical coordination of the format has already moved beyond general declarations and entered the stage of substantive discussions.

Expectations and Geopolitical Weight of the Event

At the same time, Moscow emphasizes that the final coordination stage has not yet been completed. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko stated that the final official confirmation of the leaders' personal meeting has not yet been signed, although discussions continue in an intensive mode. If the leaders of the three largest nuclear powers actually gather at one table, this, according to diplomatic circles, will become the most important geopolitical event of the past decade and a decisive step in mitigating a number of complex crises in international relations. Until November 18–19, however, the status of the contact remains working rather than confirmed.