Media reports about the refusal of Chinese President Xi Jinping from an invitation to visit Russia do not correspond to reality, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, RIA Novosti reports.

The fact is that certain covid restrictions in China continue, and this is absolutely normal, and this should be treated with understanding. Putin has a valid invitation to visit China and Xi Jinping to visit Russia. And as all these relaxations of these restrictions allow, of course, all visits will be carried out, the presidential spokesman explained.

So he commented on publications in some publications that the Chinese leader allegedly did not accept Putin's invitation to come to Russia, explaining this by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The heads of the two countries regularly communicate in various formats. So, just last June, they held telephone conversations, and also participated in the BRICS summit, which was held via video link. In February, the President of Russia visited the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

As Russian Ambassador Andrey Denisov reported, in 2021, Putin and Xi Jinping, despite the pandemic, did not lose contact, they had three video calls and telephone conversations, as well as exchanges of messages.