China’s Xi Jinping has arrived in Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin in his first state visit to Russia for four years.
Mr Xi touched down at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport at around 12.59pm local time, the Tass news agency reported.
The Chinese president’s much-anticipated visit is his first since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and his first trip outside the country since he secured an unprecedented third five-year term on 10 March.
The two leaders are scheduled to have lunch before holding an informal one-to-one meeting on Monday afternoon and are set to hold a round of formal delegation talks on Tuesday.
Videos of Mr Xi’s arrival in Moscow in Russian state media showed the Chinese leader being welcomed by a military band orchestra after setting foot out of the plane.
Other visuals showed scores of Russian people holding Chinese flags as they waited for Mr Xi’s convoy to pass by.
The visit means Mr Xi will have the dubious distinction of being the first world leader to shake Mr Putin’s hand after an arrest warrant was issued for the Russian president on 17 March over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The visit is a diplomatic tightrope for Mr Xi who has maintained his distance from Mr Putin’s invasion and has stopped short of condemning Russia for its actions in Ukraine while forging a closer energy partnership with Moscow.
Beijing has boosted imports of Russian coal, gas and oil following Mr Putin’s all-out invasion of Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said Mr Putin’s first meeting with Mr Xi will begin around 4.30pm Moscow time (1.30pm GMT) and will be “informal but very important”.
He added that Mr Xi and Mr Putin will “of course” discuss China’s 12-point peace proposal to end the Ukraine war, which was published by Beijing several weeks ago. “President Putin will give exhaustive explanations so that President Xi can understand the Russian position at the current moment,” he told reporters.
The three-day visit – dubbed by the Chinese government a “trip for peace” – will be closely watched by Ukraine and the rest of the international community, with Russia increasingly isolated beyond its close ties to China.
In recent days, Mr Xi has bolstered his credentials as a global mediator after brokering a diplomatic agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
But Western leaders have expressed doubts over Mr Xi’s ability to position himself as a genuine intermediary and end the Ukraine war given his close ties to Mr Putin, and are concerned that the visit could only exacerbate the conflict. It has been noted that Mr Putin first launched his so-called “special military operation” against Ukraine immediately after a meeting with the Chinese president last year.
On the eve of Mr Xi’s visit, Mr Putin praised his “good old friend” in a newspaper article published in China.
“We are grateful for the balanced line of [China] in connection with the events taking place in Ukraine, for understanding their background and true causes,” he wrote in the article which ran on Sunday.
“We welcome China’s willingness to play a constructive role in resolving the crisis.”
Mr Xi returned the favour by publishing an article in the Russian government’s newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, calling for “pragmatism” on the issue of Ukraine.
“In the past 10 years, I have visited Russia eight times, each time setting out with excitement and coming back with rich results, opening a new chapter in Chinese-Russian relations with President Putin,” he wrote.
“Chinese-Russian friendship has long endured and must be cherished even more.”
