By Anthony Marcus for Eurasia Business News, May18, 2026. Article n°3000

Photo : Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2025.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China on May 19-20 at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The visit is timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation between the countries. Following the talks, the parties will sign about 40 bilateral documents. The main thing about the upcoming trip is in the present article.

The timing is deliberate: the Kremlin says the visit coincides with the treaty anniversary, underscoring that the Russia-China relationship is being framed as long-term and institutional, not just tactical. Reporting around the trip also emphasizes that Putin will meet Xi to discuss strengthening bilateral ties, especially as both countries continue to coordinate on security and global issues.

The last visit by Vladimir Putin to China was in September 2025.

The Visit program

  • Vladimir Putin will arrive in China on the evening of May 19. At the airport, he will be met by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
  • The official part of the visit will begin on the morning of May 20 with a ceremony to meet Putin and Xi in Tiananmen Square. Then the leaders will hold talks in a narrow format, where they will discuss the most important issues of bilateral relations. From the Russian side, five deputy prime ministers, several ministers, representatives of the presidential administration and big business will take part in the talks.
  • After that, negotiations will be held in an expanded format. The results of the work of the relevant commissions will be reported by: Dmitry Chernyshenko – on the preparation of regular meetings of the heads of government, Denis Manturov – on investment cooperation, Alexander Novak – on energy cooperation, Tatyana Golikova – on humanitarian cooperation, Yuri Trutnev – on cooperation and development of the Far East and the Baikal region of Russia and Northeast China.
  • Then Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Wang Yi will speak on foreign policy cooperation.
  • Following the talks, the leaders of Russia and China will make a joint statement to the media. After that, the opening ceremony of the Cross Years of Education will take place.
  • A separate point of the visit will be Putin’s meeting with Chinese engineer Peng Pai. According to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin saw him as a child in 2000. “Subsequently, this boy grew up, received a university education in Moscow. And now he works in one of the largest companies in China. We believe that this will be a very symbolic meeting,” the presidential aide concluded.
  • In addition, the Russian leader will meet with Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Li Qiang. The main topic will be the discussion of issues of trade and economic cooperation.
  • In the evening, a solemn reception will be held on behalf of the President of the People’s Republic of China in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation between the two countries. Before the reception, Putin and Xi will view a photo exhibition on the history of relations between Russia and China.
  • The work program will end with an informal tea party between the leaders of Russia and China. There will be four people on both sides of the meeting. “The meeting will focus on discussing topical issues on the international agenda,” Ushakov said.

What documents will be signed

  • Following the talks, the parties will sign about 40 documents. The heads of state will sign a joint statement on further strengthening comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation, as well as deepening relations of good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation.
  • In addition, the leaders of Russia and China will adopt a joint declaration on the establishment of a multipolar world and a new type of international relations.
  • Intergovernmental, interdepartmental, commercial documents will also be signed on deepening cooperation in the industrial, trade, transport, construction, educational and cinematographic fields, as well as in the field of nuclear energy, interaction between news agencies.
  • Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will discuss the issue of the Power of Siberia-2. “This topic will be discussed in great detail. It is on the agenda, and we are determined to seriously discuss it,” Ushakov said, answering a question from journalists about whether any documents on the Power of Siberia-2 could be signed during the visit of the President of Russia.

Composition of the Russian delegation

In total, the Russian delegation will include 39 people.

  • First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Ministers Tatyana Golikova, Alexander Novak, Yuri Trutnev and Dmitry Chernyshenko.
  • Eight ministers – Sergey Lavrov, Oksana Lut, Olga Lyubimova, Andrei Nikitin, Maxim Reshetnikov, Anton Siluanov, Irek Fayzullin, Valery Falkov.
  • The presidential administration will be represented by his assistant Yuri Ushakov, as well as deputy heads of the administration Dmitry Peskov and Maxim Oreshkin.
  • The delegation also included the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina, the head of VTB Andrey Kostin, the head of Sberbank Herman Gref, the heads of VEB.RF Igor Shuvalov, Rosatom Alexei Likhachev, Roscosmos Dmitry Bakanov.
  • Large companies will be represented by the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin, the head of Gazprom Alexei Miller, the co-owner of Novatek and the petrochemical company of Russia PJSC Sibur Holding Gennady Timchenko, the head of the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers (RAFP) Andrey Guryev, the general director of Roskhim Eduard Davydov, the head of Novatek Leonid Mikhelson, businessman Oleg Deripaska.
  • In addition, the visit will be attended by Russian governors, heads of news agencies and universities.

Preparing for the visit

The Russian Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that there is no connection between the visits to China by the leaders of Russia and the United States. US President Donald Trump was in China on May 13-15.

“We usually agree on a plan for negotiations with the Chinese side in advance,” Ushakov said.

According to him, the dates of Vladimir Putin’s visit were agreed back in February – immediately after the conversation between the Russian president and Chinese President Xi Jinping via video link.

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Initially, Donald Trump’s visit to China was scheduled for late March – early April, but was postponed to May 13-15.

“For some reason, due to the Iranian epic, the visit was postponed and took place on the eve of our trip to Beijing,” Ushakov explained.

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© Copyright 2026 – Eurasia Business News. Article no. 3000