The Kremlin announced on Saturday (local time) that Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week during his two-day trip to Beijing.
The two leaders will discuss bilateral relations, economic cooperation and “key international and regional issues,” CBS News said, citing the Kremlin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday that Putin’s visit to China would take place very soon and preparations for the trip had already been completed, Reuters reported.
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Here’s what to expect from the upcoming meeting
Putin’s trip to Beijing is scheduled for May 19-20, and the visit will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship, the Russian government said. The Kremlin also said that after the meeting, the two sides are expected to sign a joint statement “at the highest level” along with several bilateral intergovernmental, interdepartmental and other documents.
Russian-Chinese relations
Bilateral relations between Moscow and Beijing have strengthened in recent years, particularly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 — a move that has left Moscow increasingly isolated on the global stage and heavily dependent on Beijing for trade at a time of expanding Western sanctions.
The two leaders have met at least 40 times in the last few years. In 2022, Putin and Xi signed a “no-holds-barred” strategic partnership less than three weeks before Russia went to war in Ukraine.
The last meeting between the two leaders took place in September 2025, when Putin visited China and was welcomed by Xi Jinping, who referred to him as an “old friend”. The Russian leader also addressed Xi as a “dear friend”.
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Putin is also scheduled to visit China in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the city of Shenzhen.
The announcement of Putin’s visit came nearly a day after US President Donald Trump wrapped up his trip to China, the first visit by a US president to the country in nearly a decade.
The US president will visit China
During his two-day visit to Beijing, Trump discussed trade and the US-Iran war with his Chinese counterpart. While the two leaders described their meetings as “historic” and a “landmark”, Trump’s visit to Beijing ended without any agreements being announced.
The US president highlighted the success of his visit, saying that Chinese officials have opened doors to new areas of cooperation with Washington. According to media reports, although there were cordial exchanges between the two leaders at the meetings, no concrete agreements have yet been made. Wendy Cutler, a former negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, told CBS News that “so far, it doesn’t look like Trump and his team have anything to show for the visit.”
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Over the past three days, the two leaders have held several rounds of talks on a wide range of international issues, including the US-Iran conflict and trade tensions between their countries. The talks ended Friday in a private meeting at Zhongnanhai, a heavily guarded compound in Beijing where China’s top officials live and work.
Trump said Xi had pledged not to supply Iran with military equipment after US intelligence reports claimed Beijing was planning to send missiles to the Islamic Republic. The US president also said his Chinese counterpart agreed the Strait of Hormuz should remain open, adding that Xi had offered to help keep the strategic waterway operational. Trump claimed the route had been effectively closed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) since the war began in late February.
Trump also invited the Chinese leader and his wife to Washington for a visit on September 24.
