The Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay an official visit to the People's Republic of China on May 19 and 20 , at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
The Kremlin said in a statement that President Putin and Xi Jinping will hold an extensive session of talks focused on ways to strengthen the comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between the two countries, in addition to exchanging views closely related to the most prominent regional and international issues and files of common interest.
The statement added that the program of the visit also includes a meeting between the Russian President and Chinese Premier Li Qiang, to discuss the prospects and development of joint trade and economic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, noting that a joint statement and a set of bilateral agreements and documents are scheduled to be signed at the conclusion of the talks.
U.S.-Russian race toward Beijing
The announcement of Putin's visit to Beijing came a few hours after US President Donald Trump concluded a three-day state visit to the Chinese capital (May 13-15 ), the first by a US president to China in nearly a decade, and carried prominent economic and political significance in light of a complex international scene.
According to Chinese diplomatic sources, the two consecutive visits came for the first time in history that Beijing has hosted the leaders of the US and Russian powers in the same month outside a multilateral framework, which reflects President Xi Jinping's keenness to manage his country's relations with the two parties at the same time.
The Chinese sources pointed out that Putin's upcoming visit comes in the context of the growing strategic relations between Russia and China, which in recent years have witnessed a remarkable rapprochement at various political, economic and diplomatic levels, as Moscow and Beijing attach "utmost importance" to these meetings to ensure the continuation of coordination and joint work in international forums.
The visit reflects the depth of leadership ties between the two countries, as Presidents Putin and Xi Jinping have met on more than 40 occasions, during which the Russian president has visited China more than 20 times, most recently in August 2025 to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, while Russia topped the list of countries visited by the Chinese president since taking office.
While the U.S. president has sought to establish what he described as a "constructive relationship and strategic stability" with China to prevent a major confrontation, the Russian president is turning to Beijing to consolidate "comprehensive partnership and unlimited strategic cooperation," suggesting that Beijing is carefully balancing its interests economic relations with the West and its strong strategic alliance with Moscow.