Putin to visit China to bolster ties, seek trade and energy wins

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As Russian President Vladimir Putin travels to China, Moscow's leader will be keen not only to bolster ties with Beijing but also to extract key wins in areas of trade and energy.

Putin's two-day trip to Beijing comes hot on the heels of his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump's state visit, which saw the White House boast diplomatic and trade wins.

The Russian president now heads to Beijing with the hope of reaffirming and reinforcing already close ties with China.

CNBC looks at the three key areas where Russia's leader would like to deepen ties and extract concrete pledges:

Geopolitical ties

It's no accident that Putin's arrival comes just days after Trump concluded his state visit to Beijing, Ed Price, senior non-resident fellow at New York University, told CNBC Tuesday.

Putin is likely sending "a reminder to Americans that, yes, you can come and visit China as much as you like but Russia is closer, and friendlier than you," he said.

Putin and Xi have developed close relations for more than a decade and the Russian president will want to reassert Russia's position as China's closest geopolitical ally, Price added. Price said Putin will also be seeking China's diplomatic backing with regard to the Ukraine war, a conflict Beijing has tolerated if not openly endorsed.

"As long as President Putin has territorial ambitions in his West, which is Ukraine, he must have diplomatic success in his East, which is China," he added.

"That's another way of saying that President Putin is playing a long game, a long game for the Russian state, in which he's bringing China as close as possible, while he is dealing with what he sees as a threat, which is NATO in Eastern Europe."

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One potentially awkward talking point, however, are remarks allegedly made by Xi to Trump, reported by the Financial Times, in which he said Putin might ultimately "regret" the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian state news agency TASS reported that China's foreign ministry had denied the comments were made, calling them "pure fiction."

Sitao Xu, chief economist at Deloitte China, told CNBC Monday that Moscow would be looking for "some sort of reassurance" from China when it comes to their "very complicated relationship", while China would want some idea of where the Ukraine war is heading.

"Russia is China's biggest neighbor, and we have this long border, so if we do not have to worry about security along the Western flank, that will be a huge relief for us," he noted. Xu expected the latest summit to yield announcements on energy ties and perhaps further Chinese investment in Russia.

Energy ties

Analysts note an increasingly asymmetrical relationship between Russia and China with regard to energy, particularly since the launch of the Ukraine war.

Russia, which faces hefty international sanctions, has lost vital markets for its oil and gas exports, most notably in Europe, and has become increasingly reliant on India and China as buyers of its energy exports.

Putin will be travelling to Beijing this week with hopes that a second Power of Siberia gas pipeline, which goes from Russia to China via Mongolia, could be given the green light, one analyst told CNBC, but China appears to be in no hurry to approve the infrastructure project.

"The main deal that Putin wants to discuss with Xi is, of course, the gas pipeline," Sergei Guriev, dean of the London Business School, told CNBC Tuesday.

Alexander Kazakov | Via Reuters

"Now the discussion is about 'Power of Siberia 2,' which would double Russian pipeline exports to China. China's consistently delayed discussions about this pipeline because it has felt that it has energy security because of the diversification of sources of energy [that it has built up]," Guriev stated.

Russia needs this pipeline, he added, because it has lost the European market for its gas. Beijing is less desperate. "China has built substantial reserves of energy and can wait until the Middle Eastern conflict is over," Guriev said.

NYU's Ed Price added: "Russia has something that China wants. Russia has energy, and China wants Russian energy because it foresees a situation in which other energy is harder to get ... So, China wants to keep Russia close," he noted.

Trade ties

Putin has pitched his latest trip to China as just one in a long line of regular encounters and communication between the powers.

"Regular mutual visits and Russia-China top-level talks are an important and integral part of our joint efforts to promote the entire range of relations between our two countries and unlock their truly limitless potential," Putin said in remarks reported by TASS news agency on Tuesday.

But analysts say Russia will be looking to develop its economic and trade partnership with Beijing in as many areas as possible.

"For Russia, this visit is very important," Guriev told CNBC's "Europe Early Edition" because "Russia depends on China on technology, consumer goods, and manufacturing goods."

"Russia used to have the EU as its major trade partner [but] because of the war in Ukraine ... Russia turned to China and doubled trade with China, so there is a major realignment of trade flows for the Russian economy [there] instead of to the EU. Now, China is Russia's biggest partner with the trade volumes doubling in the last four years," he noted.