Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Beijing on May 19-20 for talks with 
Xi Jinping, the Kremlin said Saturday, scheduling the trip less than 24 hours after 
Donald Trump concluded his own state visit to China. The Kremlin said the visit had been timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship, with the two leaders set to discuss bilateral ties, economic cooperation and "key international and regional issues," PBS reported.
The meeting follows Trump's two days in Beijing, where he and Xi discussed trade and the US and Israel's war in Iran. Relations between China and Russia have deepened since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 left it heavily reliant on Beijing for trade amid Western sanctions, France24 reported. When Putin last visited China in September 2025, Xi welcomed him as an "old friend," and Putin addressed him as "dear friend."
Putin, who PBS reported is also scheduled to return to China in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, last addressed Xi as a "dear friend" during his 2025 trip. The Kremlin said the two leaders would review bilateral relations and economic cooperation against the backdrop of the friendship treaty anniversary, framing the visit as a marker of the deepening Beijing-Moscow alignment.
The Beijing trip comes amid continued fighting in Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine swapped 205 prisoners of war on Friday in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as the first phase of a planned exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side, PBS reported. Kyiv said it had repatriated 528 bodies returned by Moscow that may belong to Ukrainian servicemen, while Russian drones struck Ukraine's southern Odesa region overnight, injuring two people and damaging the city's port, according to regional authorities cited by the outlet.
Figures referenced: Xi Jinping, Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
