By Gleb Bryanski
April 15 (Reuters) - Russia is ready to increase energy supplies to China ahead of an expected visit by President Vladimir Putin, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying on Wednesday at a news conference in Beijing.
After Europe decided to phase out its Russian energy imports in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow began ramping up its oil supplies to China and India, which together take in 80% of all Russia's crude exports.
The agencies quoted Lavrov as saying that the visit would take place in the first half of the year, while the Vedomosti newspaper cited sources as saying it would be during the week beginning May 18.
President Xi Jinping met Lavrov on Wednesday, assuring Moscow of China's friendship and saying that China and Russia must trust and support each other, deepen cooperation, and defend each other's interests.
U.S. President Donald Trump is also scheduled to meet Xi during his first visit to China in eight years on May 14 and 15.
Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin will visit China but so far he does not plan to meet Trump there.
Peskov added that the Kremlin will announce the dates of the visit in due course.
Lavrov told the Beijing news conference that Russia was ready to help China and other countries affected by the Middle East crisis with energy supplies.
"Russia can, of course, make up for the resource shortfall facing both China and other countries that are interested in working with us on an equal and mutually beneficial basis," Lavrov told the news conference in China.
Lavrov also said Russia and China had the means to avoid relying on what he described as U.S. efforts to disrupt global energy markets through the conflict in the Middle East.
"Thank God, China and Russia have every capability, including those already in use, reserve capacity, and planned capacity, to avoid depending on such aggressive gambits, which undermine the global economy," he said.
(Writing by Gleb Bryanski; additional reporting by Dmitry Antonov and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Mark Potter and Hugh Lawson)
