MOSCOW, 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.
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.
Lavrov told the 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 that Russia and China had all the necessary means to avoid reliance on what he described as U.S. efforts to disrupt global energy markets through conflict in the Middle East.
(Reporting by Reuters. Editing by Gleb Bryanski and Mark Potter)
