Putin arrives in China for talks with Xi Jinping less than one week after high-stakes Trump visit

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Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in China for meetings with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday night less than a week after US President Donald Trump wrapped up his own trip to Beijing.

Putin’s plane landed in the Chinese capital, where he was greeted by Foreign Minister Wang Yi and an honour guard, as well as youths in light blue shirts waving Chinese and Russian flags and chanting, “Welcome, welcome, warmly welcome!”

His two-day visit is likely to be closely watched as Beijing seeks to maintain stable relations with the United States while also preserving its historically strong ties with Russia.

The Kremlin previously noted that Putin and Xi plan to discuss economic cooperation between their countries, but also “key international and regional issues.” The visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship signed more than two decades ago in 2001.

China is a key trading partner for Russia, especially after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 isolated the Kremlin from the international arena and cut a considerable amount of its ties with Western Hemisphere countries.

Beijing has long maintained what it calls a neutral stance in the conflict despite having grown its trade ties with the Kremlin amid economic and financial sanctions by the US and Europe.

China has become Russia’s top trading partner following the start of the war in Ukraine, and is the top customer for Russian oil and gas supplies. Moscow expects the war in Iran to increase the demand. China also has ignored demands from the West to stop providing high-tech components for Russia’s weapons industries.

Yuri Ushakov, the Russian presidential aide, said Moscow’s oil exports to China grew by 35% in the first quarter of 2026 and that Russia is one of the biggest exporters of natural gas to China, referring to his country’s biggest ally as a “responsible consumer”.

Putin, in a video address released shortly before his arrival, said that bilateral ties between Russia and China are at a “ truly unprecedented level” and the relationship plays an important role globally, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.

There is “no connection” between the visits by Trump and Putin, said Ushakov on Monday, noting the trip by the Russian leader was agreed in advance, several days after Putin and Xi spoke via video conference on 4 February.

“The Trump visit was about stabilising the world’s most important bilateral relationship; the Putin visit is about reassuring a long-standing strategic partner,” said Wang Zichen, deputy secretary-general for the Beijing-based think tank Center for China & Globalisation.

“For China, these two tracks are not mutually exclusive,” he added.

Putin and Xi’s close ‘friendship’

Putin last visited China in September 2025 to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Tianjin, watch a military parade honouring the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and to hold talks with Xi.

At the time, Xi called his counterpart an “old friend ” while Putin addressed Xi as “dear friend.” In China, “old friend” is a very rare diplomatic term used by government officials and in official correspondence and party to describe favoured foreigners.

In April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Beijing and met Xi, who described the bilateral relationship as “precious” in the current international context. Xi said China and Russia needed to strengthen and defend their shared interests.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said over the weekend that Putin’s trip also would allow Russia to receive direct updates and exchange views with China on its talks with the US.

During Trump’s visit, Xi described the bilateral relationship between Washington and Beijing as the world’s most important and said they should see each other as partners rather than rivals.

By the end of the two-day summit, the countries said they would work on a new framework to manage “a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability.”

The Russian president is set to meet with Xi Jinping on Wednesday where many items are on the agenda, including international conflicts, energy disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the wars both in Ukraine and Iran.

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