Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Beijing for a two-day state visit, during which he is due to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping less than a week after US President Donald Trump’s own trip to the Chinese capital.
Putin landed on May 19 and was greeted by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi alongside an honour guard, as well as groups of young people waving Russian and Chinese flags, according to Euronews. Formal talks between the two leaders were scheduled for May 20.
The Kremlin has said the two presidents would discuss bilateral economic cooperation as well as “key international and regional issues”. The visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship, signed in 2001.
In a video message released shortly before his arrival, Putin described ties between Moscow and Beijing as being at a “truly unprecedented level”, state news agency Xinhua reported. Wang Zichen, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalisation think tank, said Trump’s recent trip had aimed to stabilise relations with Washington while Putin’s visit was about “reassuring a long-standing strategic partner”.
Trade between the two countries has expanded considerably since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which prompted wide-ranging sanctions from the European Union and the US. Beijing has maintained what it calls a neutral position on the Ukraine war though it has become the Kremlin’s top trading partner and the largest buyer of Russian oil and gas.
Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov has said Moscow’s oil exports to China rose by 35 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, describing Beijing as a “responsible consumer”. He added that Russia expected demand to grow further amid the war in Iran.
Beijing has rejected Western calls to halt deliveries of high-tech components used by Russia’s weapons industries. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said over the weekend that the trip would also allow Putin to receive direct updates from Xi on Beijing’s recent talks with Trump.
Ushakov has denied any link between the two visits, noting that Putin’s trip had been agreed in advance and that the Russian and Chinese leaders had spoken by video conference on February 4. Putin last travelled to China in September 2025 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit and a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
At those earlier talks Xi referred to Putin as an “old friend”, a term that Chinese officials reserve for favoured foreign counterparts. In April, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov also travelled to Beijing, where Xi described the bilateral relationship as “precious” in the current international context.
The agenda for the meeting was expected to cover the wars in Ukraine and Iran, energy disruptions linked to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and broader economic cooperation, the Kremlin has said.
