<!-- wp:html --><p>Sputnik/Alexander Astafyev/Pool via REUTERS via third party</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/did-vladimir-putins-prime-minister-dmitry-medvedev-drop-a-grim-hint-about-putins-latest-power-grab">Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin</a> and a delegation of his colleagues went to China this week with the hopes of further enhancing economic ties with <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-china-could-be-vladimir-putins-lifeline-in-russias-war-on-ukraine">Beijing</a>. </p>
<p>But Mishustin’s counterpart, the Chairman of the State Council Li Qiang, who invited him on the visit, reportedly refused to meet with him at the China-Russia Business Forum on Tuesday, according to Russian newspaper <em><a href="https://www.vedomosti.ru/economics/articles/2023/05/24/976544-chto-volnovalo-biznes-na-forume-v-shanhae">Vedomosti</a>. </em></p>
<p>Other top officials and managers of major Chinese companies also declined to meet with him and his colleagues, many of whom are <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-administration-slaps-more-sanctions-on-russian-oligarchs-to-make-vladimir-putin-feel-the-burn">sanctioned in the west due to Russia’s war in Ukraine</a>, <em>Vedomosti </em>reported.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-prime-minister-mikhail-mishustins-visit-to-china-mired-by-sanctions">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->
But Mishustin’s counterpart, the Chairman of the State Council Li Qiang, who invited him on the visit, reportedly refused to meet with him at the China-Russia Business Forum on Tuesday, according to Russian newspaper Vedomosti.
