Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on 21 October that a meeting of the Russian, Chinese and US leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen in November "has not been rejected by any of the capitals". He said China is handling the preparations1. Asked by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on 21 October and by Reuters on 22 October, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said she had no information on such a meeting2.
Bloomberg and Kyodo put the same question on 19 and 20 October and got no substantive answer. Putin told Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who visited the Constantine Palace on the day of the Witkoff meeting, that he and Xi Jinping had met three times this year3.
Washington's track has so far run as separate rounds with each side, most recently envoy talks with Ukrainian officials in Miami. Zelenskyy said on 20 October that any US-China-Russia talks on Ukraine are acceptable to Kyiv only with Ukraine in the room4. Lowdown found no statement from Moscow or Washington accepting that condition. On Lowdown's reading, naming China moves the settlement towards a three-power format, and Ukraine's seat would then rest on Zelenskyy's demand alone.
