On the evening of October 20, 2026 local time, at the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Premier of the State Council Li Qiang arrived at Pulkovo International Airport in St. Petersburg by chartered plane to hold the 31st regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government. State Councilor and Secretary-General of the State Council Wu Zhenglong and other accompanying officials arrived on the same plane.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui greeted Li Qiang at the airport.

Li Qiang noted that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the China-Russia strategic partnership of coordination and the 25th anniversary of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. Looking back on the journey that China and Russia have traversed together, the two countries have jointly found a path of non-alliance, non-confrontation and not targeting any third party in developing their relations, and have promoted continuous in-depth advancement of cooperation in various fields, setting a model of major-country relations featuring lasting good-neighborliness and friendship, comprehensive strategic coordination, and mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. In particular, in recent years, under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin, China-Russia relations have grown more mature and resilient, with an ever more solid foundation of political mutual trust, ever more substantive steps in mutually beneficial cooperation and ever closer ties of friendship forged through generations.

Li Qiang pointed out that today, major changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world. The heads of state of China and Russia held two meetings this year, charting a new blueprint for the development of bilateral relations. China is ready to work continuously with Russia toward deeper, more substantive and more resilient bilateral cooperation, and bring the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era to bear new fruitful outcomes, so as to deliver more benefits to the two peoples, and inject valuable stability and certainty into world peace and development.

Li Qiang arrived in St. Petersburg after concluding his official visit to Tajikistan and attending the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). As he departed Dushanbe, First Deputy Prime Minister of Tajikistan Hokim Kholiqzoda, Chinese Ambassador to Tajikistan Guo Zhijun and others saw him off at the airport.