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Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the possibility of meeting Ukraine's president-elect in a sign Moscow might want to improve relations that soured after its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Putin said Saturday if they meet, he and Volodymyr Zelenskiy should discuss how to end Ukraine's conflict with Russian-backed separatists in its southeast.

The Russian leader was in Beijing for a forum on China's Belt and Road infrastructure-building initiative.

Putin told reporters, "If we have a meeting sometime, begin some negotiations, which I do not rule out, then we will first of all have to talk about how to end the conflict in the southeast of Ukraine."