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The Kremlin announced this Thursday that Russian President Vladímir Putin will travel to China "shortly," precisely while U.S. President Donald Trump is in Beijing for a three-day state visit.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, confirmed in his daily conference call that the preparations for the visit have been completed: "It can be said that the preparation for the visit is already finished; we are adding the final touches. It will take place soon."
The announcement positions Beijing as the global diplomatic epicenter, with Washington's two major rival powers visiting China within days.
Trump's visit to China, taking place from May 13 to 15, is the first by a sitting U.S. president since 2017 and is centered on trade negotiations following months of tariff conflict.
Washington had imposed tariffs of 145% on Chinese products, and Beijing responded with equivalent measures, maxing out the bilateral relationship before this summit.
This Thursday, Trump and Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting in the Great Hall of the People, followed by a state banquet and a visit to the Temple of Heaven.
Trump referred to the meeting as "probably the greatest summit in history" and asserted that the relationship between the two countries "is going to be better than ever".
Xi Jinping, for his part, urged Washington to "be partners and not rivals," asserting that "the common interests of China and the U.S. outweigh their differences."
Putin's visit has clear precedents: on February 4, 2026, Xi Jinping formally invited the Russian leader during a videoconference held in the context of the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Good Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation.
The Russian Foreign Minister Serguéi Lavrov traveled to Beijing on April 15 to lay the groundwork and was received by Xi himself, a sign of the high level of the bilateral relationship.
On May 9, Putin announced that during his visit to China, both countries will take "a serious and very substantial step" in oil and gas cooperation, which points to significant energy agreements as a central focus of the agenda.
The sequence —Trump first, Putin later— is historically unprecedented: it is the first time that leaders from the U.S. and Russia have made successive bilateral visits to the same country in the same month outside of a multilateral framework.
The timely coincidence positions Xi Jinping as the central diplomatic arbiter of the current global geopolitical moment, hosting back-to-back meetings with the two leaders who hold the most influence in the international order.
Some analysts speculate about a possible trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin, and Xi on September 3, 2026, coinciding with the Chinese parade for the 81st anniversary of the end of World War II, although no government has confirmed this possibility.
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