Russian President Vladimir Putin has welcomed China over willingness to help with resolving over one year of conflict in Ukraine.

President Xi is heading on Monday to Russia, where, according to the Chinese foreign ministry, the Chinese head of state would "play a constructive role in promoting peace talks."

Writing for a Chinese paper on the eve of the visit, Putin said he had "high expectations" of his pending talks with the Chinese leader, and hailed "China's willingness to play a constructive role in resolving" the conflict.

Russia started a military campaign in neighboring Ukraine last February. It says it launched the operation in order to defend the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk against persecution by Kiev.

Back in 2014, the two republics broke away from Ukraine, refusing to recognize a Western-backed Ukrainian government there that had overthrown a democratically-elected Russia-friendly administration.

"Russia is open to a settlement of the Ukrainian crisis by political-diplomatic means," Putin added in the article.

He, however, insisted on Kiev's recognition of "new geopolitical realities," namely Moscow's territorial sovereignty over the two republics as well as Ukraine's former territory of Crimea, all of which have voted to join the Russian Federation.

Putin also said he was grateful to Beijing for its "balanced" stance on events in Ukraine and its understanding of the conflict's background and the "real reasons" behind it.

President Xi said on Monday that China’s proposal on how to solve the Ukraine crisis reflects global views, Reuters reported. 

In an article published at the start of his visit to Moscow, the Chinese leader called for "pragmatism" on the Ukraine issue.

The China proposal, a 12-point paper released last month, represents "as much as possible the unity of the world community's views," Xi wrote in an article in Rossiiskaya Gazeta, a daily published by the Russian government, according to Reuters' translation from Russian.

"The document serves as a constructive factor in neutralizing the consequences of the crisis and promoting a political settlement. Complex problems do not have simple solutions."

A peaceful resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, President Xi wrote, would also "ensure the stability of global production and supply chains."

He called for a "rational way" out of the crisis, which would be "found if everyone is guided by the concept of common, comprehensive, joint and sustainable security, and continue dialogue and consultations in an equal, prudent and pragmatic manner."

The Chinese president said that his visit to Russia is aimed at strengthening the friendship between the two countries, "an all-encompassing partnership and strategic interaction," in a world threatened by "acts of hegemony, despotism and bullying."

"There is no universal model of government and there is no world order where the decisive word belongs to a single country," Xi wrote. "Global solidarity and peace without splits and upheavals is in the common interests of all mankind."