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Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump during last week's Beijing summit that Russian President Vladimir Putin might end up regretting his invasion of Ukraine.
His remark went further than any assessment Xi had offered to previous U.S. presidents, according to multiple people familiar with the U.S. readout of the talks who spoke to the Financial Times (FT).
Putin is set to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday for a summit with Xi, expected to produce a 47-page declaration on a multipolar world order and approximately 40 bilateral agreements.
FT's sources said Xi's comments about Putin's decision to launch the full-scale invasion in February 2022 appeared to go further than anything offered during Xi's previous meetings with former U.S. President Biden.
One person familiar with those prior meetings told FT that while Xi and Biden held "frank and direct" conversations about Russia and Ukraine, Xi had not offered an assessment of Putin himself or the war.
The White House declined to comment, and the Trump administration's published factsheet on the Beijing summit contained no reference to Ukraine or Putin.
FT also reported that Trump suggested during the summit that the U.S., China, and Russia should join forces to combat the International Criminal Court, citing aligned interests, a comment the White House also declined to address.
Putin's arrival will mark his 25th trip to China, his first trip abroad this year, and his first visit since Xi hosted him as a guest of honor at a major military parade in September.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters in Moscow that Putin would be welcomed at the airport by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and would travel to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse ahead of formal events on Wednesday.
The program includes an official welcoming ceremony at Tiananmen Square; talks in both narrow and expanded formats at the Great Hall of the People with a Russian delegation of 39 officials; and a closing informal tea meeting between the two leaders that Ushakov described as one of the most significant moments of the agenda.
Ushakov confirmed that Putin and Xi would adopt a "Declaration on the Establishment of a Multipolar World" and a separate joint statement on strategic cooperation.
"This is a kind of policy document, 47 pages. It outlines the main avenues for development of our entire complex of multifaceted bilateral relations, a clear common vision of pressing issues on the global agenda, and the key formats for interaction in global affairs," Ushakov said.
Approximately 40 documents are expected to be signed, covering industry, trade, transport, construction, innovation, education, cinema, nuclear energy and news agency cooperation.
Ushakov stressed the visit had "no connection" to Trump's trip, saying the dates had been agreed upon after a February 4 video call between Putin and Xi.
Discussions are also expected to include progress on the proposed "Power of Siberia 2" natural gas pipeline from Russia to China through Mongolia, a project that Natasha Kuhrt of King's College London told Agence France-Presse (AFP) could receive a boost from the Iran war, as China has been directly affected by the loss of oil crossing the Strait of Hormuz since Feb. 28.
"For Putin, the relationship is clearly more important than ever, especially in economic terms," Kuhrt said. "Beijing tends to prefer a diversified energy supply," she added, and "China would not want to be too dependent on Russia for energy."
Bilateral trade between China and Russia has more than doubled since 2020, with China accounting for more than a third of Russia's imports and over a quarter of its exports in 2025, according to TASS.
Russia remained a comparatively smaller share of China's overall trade, accounting for approximately 5% of Chinese imports.
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