BEIJING – Russia's President Vladimir Putin will visit China this week, both countries announced on Tuesday, meeting his 'dear friend' Xi Jinping as he seeks to win greater support from Beijing for his war in Ukraine and isolated economy.It will be Putin's first trip abroad since his reelection in March and his second in just over six months to China, a crucial economic lifeline for Russia after the West slapped it with unprecedented sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.
Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China shake hands for the cameras during a meeting in the Chinese capital Beijing on Oct. 18, 2023. But as that economic partnership comes under close scrutiny in the West, Chinese banks fearing US sanctions that might cut them off from the global financial system have begun turning the screws on Russian businesses.'The Russians want China to do more to support it, which China is reluctant to do because it doesn't want to jeopardize its relationship with the West,' Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told Agence France-Presse .