Putin arrives in China to meet President Xi in rare international trip from Russian leader amid war in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart and ‘dear friend’ Xi Jinping on a trip aimed at showcasing the ‘no-limits’ partnership between China and Russia.

Putin and his entourage flew into the Beijing Capital International Airport Tuesday morning, according to Reuters video footage, in the Kremlin chief’s first official trip outside of the former Soviet Union this year.

The Russian leader is due to meet his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday to hold bilateral talks, taking part in a forum to mark 10 years of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It is the first time this year Putin has travelled beyond the limits of the former USSR.

Putin and Xi may also discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during their meeting in Beijing this week, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Tuesday. 

Putin has traveled little since the Hague-based International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in March, accusing him of illegally deporting children from Ukraine. Putin visited Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic, earlier this month.

The ICC’s move obliges the court’s 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory. Neither Kyrgyzstan nor China are members of the ICC, established to prosecute war crimes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport on October 17

Putin (arriving today) will attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation

The Russian leader is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Xi Jinping on Wednesday 18

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 – they are seeking to further deepen the ‘no-limits’ partnership between their two countries

Beijing has rejected Western criticism of its partnership with Moscow even as the war in Ukraine showed no sign of ceasing, insisting their ties do not violate international norms, and China has the right to collaborate with whichever country it chooses.

Putin last visited China for the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022 when Russia and China declared a ‘no-limits’ partnership days before the Russian president sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.

It would be Putin’s third attendance of the Belt and Road Forum, which runs through Wednesday. He attended the two previous forums in 2017 and 2019.

The forum centers on the Belt and Road initiative, a grand plan launched by Xi a decade ago that he hopes would build global infrastructure and energy networks connecting Asia with Africa and Europe through overland and maritime routes.

Putin has praised the initiative, saying it is a platform for international cooperation, where ‘no one imposes anything on others.’

Since the start of the Ukrainian conflict, Russia has cemented its energy ties with China in a sign of their economic cooperation.

Russia exports around 2 million barrels of oil per day to China, more than a third of its total crude oil exports. Moscow also aims to build a second natural gas pipeline to China.

While the heads of Russia’s oil and gas giants Rosneft and Gazprom will be part of Putin’s traveling delegation, no new deals in energy can be expected.

The trip is not a ‘full-fledged bilateral’ visit, but one made on the sidelines of an international conference, according to the Kremlin.

Xi kicked off the summit Tuesday with talks with Chilean and Kazakhstan Presidents Gabriel Boric and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Chinese state media reported.

Ahead of the forum, China and Russia’s top diplomats were singing from the same song sheet when they met in Beijing on Monday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov thanked China for inviting Putin as the summit’s ‘chief guest’, according to a readout from Moscow, which later said the top diplomat would head to North Korea after Beijing.

Putin and Xi will discuss the countries’ ties ‘in their entirety’ when they meet this week, Lavrov told Wang.

Chinese honor guards are seen after welcoming Russia’s President Vladimir Putin ahead of the Third Belt and Road Forum at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on October 17

A vehicle transporting Russia’s President Vladimir Putin departs from Beijing Capital International Airport following Putin’s arrival in Beijing on October 17, 2023

Beijing has rejected Western criticism of its partnership with Moscow even as the war in Ukraine showed no sign of ceasing, insisting that their ties do not violate international norms, and China has the right to collaborate with whichever country it chooses

Xi last saw his ‘dear friend’ in Moscow just days after the warrant was issued

Putin last visited China for the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022 when Russia and China declared a ‘no-limits’ partnership days before the Russian president sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine

Wang, in turn, said China ‘appreciates’ Russia’s support for the BRI.

The two nations share a symbiotic alliance, with China appreciating Russia’s role as a bulwark against the West, and Moscow increasingly reliant on Beijing’s largesse in trade and geopolitical backing.

‘Since Moscow embarked on its all-out invasion of Ukraine, it has been put in a position where it is unprecedentedly dependent on China,’ Bjorn Alexander Duben of China’s Jilin University told AFP.

At the heart of the deepening partnership is the relationship between Xi and Putin, who have described each other as ‘dear friends’.

‘President Xi Jinping calls me his friend, and I call him my friend, too,’ Putin told Chinese state broadcaster CGTN ahead of his visit, according to a Kremlin readout.