On March 21, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Moscow Kremlin.
Alexei Mayshev AFP | Getty Images
As Russian President Vladimir Putin visits China, the Russian leader will be keen not only to strengthen ties with China, but also to score important victories in the areas of trade and energy.
Putin’s two-day visit to Beijing has attracted attention, following a state visit by U.S. President Donald Trump in which the White House boasted of diplomatic and trade victories.
The Russian president is currently heading to Beijing in hopes of reaffirming and strengthening already close ties with China.
CNBC looks at three key areas where Russia’s leaders want to deepen ties and elicit concrete commitments.
geopolitical connections
Ed Price, a senior adjunct fellow at New York University, told CNBC on Tuesday that it is no coincidence that Putin’s arrival comes just days after Trump’s state visit to Beijing ended.
He said Putin was probably sending “a reminder to Americans that you can come and visit China as much as you want, but Russia is closer and friendlier than you.”
Putin and Xi have had close ties for more than a decade, and the Russian president will likely want to reaffirm Russia’s position as China’s closest geopolitical ally, Price added. Price said Putin will also seek diplomatic support from China regarding the war in Ukraine, which Beijing has tolerated unless it openly supports it.
“As long as President Putin has territorial ambitions in the West, in Ukraine, he must also succeed diplomatically in the East, in China,” he added.
“This is another way of saying that Putin is playing the long game, the long game for the Russian state. He is trying to bring China as close as possible while dealing with what he sees as the threat of NATO in Eastern Europe.”
One potentially troubling topic, however, is the Financial Times’ report on Xi’s alleged remarks to Trump, in which he said Putin might eventually “regret” invading Ukraine.
Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported that China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the remarks, calling them “complete fiction.”
Shitao Xu, chief economist at Deloitte China, told CNBC on Monday that Russia is seeking “some reassurance” from China regarding the two countries’ “very complex relationship,” while China will likely want some information about the course of the Ukraine war.
“Russia is China’s biggest neighbor and we have such a long border, so it would be a huge relief for us if we didn’t have to worry about security in the West,” he said. Xu predicted that the summit would include announcements on energy issues and perhaps further Chinese investment in Russia.
energy connection
Analysts note that relations between Russia and China have become increasingly asymmetrical regarding energy, especially since the start of the Ukraine war.
Russia, which faces tough international sanctions, has lost important markets for its oil and gas exports, particularly Europe, and has become increasingly reliant on India and China as buyers for its energy exports.
An analyst told CNBC that President Putin will visit Beijing this week in hopes of getting the green light for a second Power of Siberia gas pipeline from Russia to China via Mongolia, but China appears to be in no hurry to approve the infrastructure project.
“The main agreement that President Putin wants to discuss with President Xi is, of course, the gas pipeline,” London Business School Dean Sergei Guryev told CNBC on Tuesday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk at the private residence of Chinese leader Zhong Nanhai in Beijing, China, September 2, 2025.
Alexander Kazakov via Reuter
“What is currently being discussed is Power of Siberia 2, which would double Russia’s pipeline exports to China. China has consistently delayed discussions on this pipeline because it feels that it has energy security due to the diversification of energy sources (which it has built up),” Guryev said.
Russia needs this pipeline because it has lost the European gas market, he added. Beijing is not so hopeless. “China has considerable energy reserves and can wait until the end of the Middle East conflict,” Guliyev said.
Ed Price of New York University further said, “Russia has something that China wants. Russia has energy, and China wants Russian energy, because it foresees a situation where it will be difficult to obtain other forms of energy. … So China wants to bring Russia closer.”
trade relations
Putin touted his visit to China as just one part of a long series of regular talks and communications between the great powers.
“Regular mutual visits and high-level talks between Russia and China are an important and integral part of joint efforts to promote overall relations between our two countries and unleash truly limitless potential,” Putin said in remarks reported by TASS news agency on Tuesday.
But analysts say Russia is seeking to develop economic and trade cooperation with China in as many areas as possible.
“This visit is very important for Russia,” Guliyev told CNBC’s “European Early Edition.” “Russia depends on China for technology, consumer goods and manufacturing.”
“Russia used to have the EU as its main trading partner (but) because of the Ukraine war…Russia turned its attention to China and doubled its trade with China. Therefore, there is a major reorganization of trade flows in the Russian economy (there) rather than in the EU. China is now Russia’s largest partner, and trade volumes have doubled in the last four years,” he pointed out.
