The Russian leader’s two-day to China trip comes as his country’s forces have pressed an offensive in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region that began last week in the most significant border incursion since the full-scale invasion began, forcing almost 8,000 people to flee their homes.
“This is Putin’s first trip after his inauguration, and it is therefore intended to show that Sino-Russian relations are moving up another level,” independent Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev told AFP. “Not to mention the visibly sincere personal friendship between the two leaders.”
China has strengthened its trade and military ties with Russia in recent years as the US and its allies imposed sanctions against both countries, particularly against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.
The west says China has played a crucial role in helping Russia withstand the sanctions and has supplied key technology which Russia has used on the battlefield in Ukraine. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but has backed Moscow’s contentions that Russia was provoked into attacking Ukraine by the west, despite Putin’s public avowals of his desire to restore Russia’s century-old borders as the reason for his assault.
China, once the junior partner of Moscow in the global Communist hierarchy, remains by far the most powerful of Russia’s friends in the world.
Some images are coming through on the wires of Putin arriving in Harbin and being greeted at the airport by Chinese officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, is welcomed by Chinese officials at an airport in Harbin, China. Photograph: Matvey Fedorov/AP
The relationship between Russia and China has set an “example of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation between major powers” that “contributes to regional and global peace, stability, and prosperity,” China’s state-run Global Times newspaper said in an editorial on Friday.
It praised the relationship as “unique in the history of modern international relations”, adding:
The two countries are not military-political allies, but rather represent a new model of major power relations characterized by non-alignment, non-confrontation, and not targeting any third country.
It also wrote that the two countries: “jointly oppose zero-sum games and Cold War mentality, group politics, confrontational blocs, dividing the world based on ideology and political systems, and confrontational policies and interference in other countries’ internal affairs.”
China has however come under increasing pressure from the west not to supply Russia with goods that could be used in its war against Ukraine.
Last year, bilateral trade hit a record $240.1bn, and there are signs that even more goods – including dual-use technology that could be used in the war effort – are reaching Russia from China via third countries.
Even without direct arms shipments to Russia, western observers say China’s economic and political support for Russia has been a lifeline since February 2022. On Thursday, Putin said he was “grateful” to China for its efforts to try to resolve “the Ukraine crisis”.
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of Vladimir Putin’s visit to China.
The Russian president and his host, Chinese President Xi Jinping, are visiting Harbin, a city in north-east China once known as “Little Moscow” because of its historically large Russian population and Russian Orthodox-style architecture.
Enhanced economic cooperation will also be on the agenda. Russian state media has reported that Russia’s sovereign wealth fund will open an office in Harbin, and on Friday there will be a ceremony to mark the start of the China-Russia Expo, a trade fair.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is greeted by a ceremonial guard in Beijing on Thursday. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
In a press conference shortly after their meeting on Thursday, and before the two leaders sat down for a celebratory concert to mark the 75th anniversary of formal China-Russia relations, Putin praised the “warm and comradely” talks with Xi.
In return, Xi said the friendship between China and Russia was “everlasting” and had “become a model for a new type of international relations”.
Here’s our full report on the first day of the visit:
