Putin to visit China to reaffirm Russia ties
Russian president Vladimir Putin is traveling to China to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping less than a week after US president Donald Trump wrapped up his own trip to Beijing.
Mr Putin is scheduled to be in China on Tuesday and Wednesday in a visit likely to be closely watched as Beijing seeks to maintain stable relations with the United States while also preserving strong ties with Russia.
The Kremlin has said Mr Putin and Mr Xi plan to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries, but also “key international and regional issues”.
The visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship signed in 2001.
China is a key trading partner for Russia, especially after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Beijing has said it is neutral in the conflict while maintaining trade ties with the Kremlin despite economic and financial sanctions by the US and Europe.
Mr Putin said in a video address released before his visit that bilateral ties are at “a truly unprecedented level” and the relationship plays an important role globally, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported.
There is “no connection” between the visits by Mr Trump and Mr Putin, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said, noting the trip by the Russian leader was agreed in advance, several days after Mr Putin and Mr Xi spoke via video-conference on February 4.
“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 Mr Wang Zichen, deputy secretary-general for the Beijing-based think tank Centre for China & Globalisation.
“For China, these two tracks are not mutually exclusive.”
Mr 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 the Second World War, and hold talks with Mr Xi.
At the time, Mr Xi called his counterpart an “old friend ” while Mr Putin addressed Mr Xi as “dear friend”.
In China, “old friend” is a very rare diplomatic term used by the government and party to describe favoured foreigners.
In April, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov visited Beijing and met Mr Xi, who described the bilateral relationship as “precious” in the current international context.
Mr Xi said China and Russia needed to strengthen and defend their shared interests.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said over the weekend that Mr Putin’s trip also would allow Russia to receive direct updates and exchange views with China on its talks with the US.
During Mr Trump’s visit, Mr Xi described the bilateral relationship between the US and China 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”.