China ‘Already Preparing’ Trilateral Summit With US & Russia, Likely For November: Kremlin

There’s lots of talk of big trilateral meetings in the middle of this week, as some major parallel diplomacy is currently happening in St. Petersburg.

President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with US special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff has wrapped up, but already China is also in the house. Significantly, Chinese Premier Li Qiang is second-highest-ranking official in the country’s Communist Party (CCP) hierarchy, under President Xi Jinping. He’s meeting with Putin just after the Witkoff summit

Footage from St. Petersburg’s Constantine Palace, where Putin is receiving Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Earlier today, the Russian president met Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, at the very same location. https://t.co/lUcKxvBMl9

— Brian McDonald (@BrianMcDonaldIE) October 21, 2026

Putin aide Yury Ushakov has in comments to reporters revealed that China has already begun preparing a trilateral meeting among the leaders of Russia, the US and China.

He indicated that could happen on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen ”if circumstances are favorable.” This would be in just under a month, scheduled for November 17-18, 2026.

Ushakov said: “Our Chinese friends, who are hosting the APEC summit, will deal or rather are already dealing with its [the trilateral meeting] preparation. And if circumstances are favourable, they, our Chinese friends, will of course include this meeting in the program of events in Shenzhen.”

Some further details laid out in Ushakov’s briefing, via Bloomberg:

• Potential meeting has been worked on at expert level, Ushakov says
• Meeting would require all three leaders to be in same place at same time
• Experts have outlined key topics for potential trilateral meeting at APEC summit
• A single meeting between Putin, Trump and Xi wouldn’t be enough to resolve war in Ukraine, Ushakov says.

One journalist and pundit described of Wednesday’s remarkable events in Russia’s second-largest city:

There’s an extraordinary diplomatic coincidence in St. Petersburg today. Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is arriving to discuss peace in Ukraine, just as Chinese Premier Li Qiang, second only to Xi Jinping in Beijing’s political hierarchy, visits the city.

Peter the Great built St. Petersburg as Russia’s window onto the rest of Europe. Three centuries later, it will see Russia, America and China can discuss Europe’s affairs without troubling the EU.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has arrived in St. Petersburg, where he was welcomed by Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin, ahead of tomorrow’s 31st regular meeting of the heads of government of Russia and China. Officials are expected to discuss bilateral trade, energy, industrial cooperation, agriculture and transport infrastructure, with several agreements due to be signed.

— Brian McDonald (@BrianMcDonaldIE) October 20, 2026

Ukraine’s Zelensky has meanwhile tried to insist that his country’s fate cannot be determined without him or Ukrainian representatives at the table.

On this, Trump said earlier this week: “I’m supporting stopping the war between Russia and Ukraine… Frankly, Zelensky is not helping matters much. I think he doesn’t want to stop it. I want to see people not die.”

President Trump has meanwhile suggested that any future trilateral meeting would also focus on nuclear proliferation issues. Secretary of State Rubio has further hinted at this…

SECRETARY RUBIO: People need to grow up when it comes to foreign policy a little bit. I don’t think it’s unusual for the three most powerful, nuclear-armed nations on Earth to have their leaders communicate with each other. https://t.co/M4MhQCARnJ

— Department of State (@StateDept) October 20, 2026

We detailed Sunday that Putin reportedly first floated the idea of a trilateral meeting in an Oct. 9 phone call with Trump. That conversation also produced a deal for the US to buy Russian diesel fuel and facilitate its sale on the global market. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that discussions were taking place over a potential meeting. 

A potential three-way dialogue on Chinese soil would mark a big step for Xi in his efforts to elevate China’s role as a diplomatic power broker, said analysts who study China. Russian officials proposed the idea to Beijing through diplomatic channels and the Chinese side has indicated it wouldn’t object if Trump is on board. 

Russian media captures some of Wednesday’s high level dialogue:

‘We see unilateral approaches and hegemony. Against this backdrop, Russia and China maintain close ties — a very important stabilizing factor’ — Chinese Premier Li Qiang ‘China is ready to work with Russia to deepen mutual respect and expand mutually beneficial cooperation’ https://t.co/mbiJGh9c2j

— RT Intl (@RT_on_X) October 21, 2026

In the wake of prior late Sunday reports, Trump declared that he is indeed open to participating in a trilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin (but without Zelensky’s involvement). Trump also offered that could be focused on denuclearization.

“I would do it” – Trump stated multiple times in Monday comments, stipulating that he’d like to see it happen if President Xi were on board, and saying it would likely be in China (since Xi just recently visited the US).