Kremlin claims Putin and Xi barely discussed war against Ukraine, saying it came up "as a refrain"

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, has claimed that Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping barely discussed Russia's aggression against Ukraine, saying the sides spoke about the war "as a refrain", which literally means "repeated many times".

Source: Kremlin-aligned news agency Interfax

Quote from Peskov: "The Ukrainian crisis [as Russia refers to its war against Ukraine – ed.] was discussed as a refrain, in passing; there was no discussion as such."

Details: Peskov said the sides "mainly spoke about bilateral relations: the full scope of trade and economic cooperation, which, of course, cannot be discussed publicly for obvious reasons", and also "briefly exchanged views on the main issues on the international agenda".

For reference: A refrain, from the French refrain, meaning "to repeat", is a line, group of words or several lines of verse that are repeated several times in a text or piece of music.

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