Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Sept. 2, 2025. Sergey Bobylev/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed their deepening partnership during a bilateral meeting on Sept. 2, as Moscow’s energy giant Gazprom announced a new agreement to build a major natural gas pipeline linking the two nations.
Addressing Xi as a “dear friend,” Putin said that Moscow’s relationship with Beijing has attained “an unprecedentedly high level,” according to a transcript of the meeting released by the Kremlin.
