Vladimir Putin has hailed Russia’s “unprecedentedly” high level of ties with China, as dozens of leaders including the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, arrived in Beijing on the eve of a massive military parade intended to showcase a Chinese-led global order.
Putin called China’s leader, Xi Jinping, a “dear friend” after the two held talks at the Great Hall of the People and then at Xi’s personal residence. “Our close communication reflects the strategic nature of Russia-China relations, which are at an unprecedentedly high level,” Putin told Xi, according to a video on the Kremlin’s Telegram channel. “We were always together then, and we remain together now.”
Putin, described by Xi on Tuesday as his “old friend”, is the most prominent of a roster of autocrats who have gathered in China this week for a double bill of events designed to project the might of the world’s second-biggest economy and geopolitical rival to the US.
Hours after the Putin-Xi talks, Kim arrived in China in an armoured train accompanied by his daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who was making her international debut after years of being seen next to him at domestic events and is considered by South Korean intelligence to be her father’s most likely successor.
A Kremlin aide told the Russian Interfax news agency that Putin was likely to hold talks with Kim on Wednesday.
At the Victory Day parade on Wednesday, thousands of soldiers are due to march through the streets of the capital in a show of Chinese military might. Rumbling tanks and powerful fighter jets will also be on display for the event, which is being held to commemorate 80 years since the defeat of Japan in the second world war.
The gathering of global autocrats – leaders from Iran, Myanmar and Zimbabwe will also be present, along with a host of other non-western dignitaries – has been described as the “axis of upheaval” by analysts.
Putin also met Slovakia’s Moscow-friendly prime minister, Robert Fico, the only EU leader in attendance, whom he praised for his country’s “independent” position. Fico has repeatedly criticised Kyiv and stalled European Union sanctions against Moscow, arguing they put Slovakia’s energy security at risk. Putin suggested that Bratislava cut off gas supplies to Ukraine. “Ukraine receives a significant volume of energy resources through its neighbours in eastern Europe. Shut off gas supplies that go in reverse,” he told Fico.
On Ukraine, Putin said he had never opposed Ukraine’s potential membership of the European Union. “As for Ukraine’s membership of the EU, we have never objected to this … As for Nato, this is another issue.” The Russian president also said he had no intention of attacking Europe.
Putin’s comments on the Russia-China relationship came as the two countries signed a deal that will sharply increase Beijing’s imports of Russian gas over the next 30 years. Putin and Xi agreed to build the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, which will allow the transit of 50bn cubic metres of gas to China each year.
China’s purchases of Russian energy and the booming bilateral trade between the two countries have been an economic lifeline for Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The pipeline will travel through Mongolia. Like Putin, Mongolia’s president, Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, was in China for the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, which took place in Tianjin on Sunday and Monday.
Xi said on Tuesday: “The more chaotic the international situation becomes, the more China, Russia and Mongolia should strengthen solidarity and cooperation.”
Chinese state media reported on Tuesday that Putin and Xi signed more than 20 bilateral cooperation documents during talks in Beijing. China also announced it would extend visa-free travel privileges to Russian passport holders, starting from 15 September.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, also attended the SCO summit, in a sign that China-India relations are thawing after the imposition of heavy US tariffs on Indian exports.
Kim arrived in Beijing for the parade on a specially armoured train, in his first visit to China since 2019. It is also the first time since 1959 that a North Korean leader has attended an international event of this scale.
Kim’s trip comes after a period in which ties between Russia and North Korea have deepened, with Pyongyang sending tens of thousands of troops to fight for Russia in the war in Ukraine.
About 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed fighting for Russia in the Kursk region, according to South Korea’s intelligence agency, which believes Pyongyang is planning another deployment.
Xi, speaking at the SCO summit on Monday, proposed a “global governance initiative”, the latest in a slew of Chinese “global initiatives” to reshape the world order according to principles favoured by Beijing.
