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Russia and China must take concrete steps to make the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline feasible, capable of transporting 50 billion cubic meters of gas per year for 30 years. According to information from the portal Poder 360, Putin’s visit to Beijing, which takes place this Tuesday and Wednesday, also includes the signing of about 40 bilateral agreements and a plan to facilitate payments in ruble and yuan between the two countries.
Russia and China are experiencing this week the latest chapter of a rapprochement that has lasted more than two decades and now gains a concrete dimension of infrastructure. President Vladimir Putin landed in Beijing this Tuesday (19) for a two-day visit at the invitation of Xi Jinping, with an agenda dominated by the advancement of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, a 2,600-kilometer project that aims to transport natural gas from Western Siberian fields to northern China, crossing Mongolia. The project is treated by both governments as a priority and was included in China’s Five-Year Plan from 2026 to 2030.
The visit marks Putin’s 25th trip to China and coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between the two countries. According to Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, Russia and China are expected to sign about 40 bilateral documents, covering sectors such as energy, trade, transportation, construction, education, and technological cooperation. The meeting takes place just days after Donald Trump concluded a four-day visit to Beijing without concrete announcements, a contrast that Russian diplomacy made sure not to overlook.
The Power of Siberia 2 pipeline and what’s at stake
The main topic of the meeting between Russia and China is the advancement of the Power of Siberia 2, the second mega pipeline between the two countries. The first, the Power of Siberia, has been in operation since 2019 and has delivered more than 100 billion cubic meters of gas to China under a contract valid until 2049. The new project would drastically expand this capacity: 50 billion cubic meters per year over 30 years, linking the Yamal Peninsula in northern Russia to the Chinese consumer market via a land route that crosses Mongolia.
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Gazprom, the Russian state gas company, has already signed a legally binding memorandum on the construction of transmission networks. The expectation is that the pipeline will begin operations around 2030. For Russia, the project is a matter of strategic survival: since the war in Ukraine closed the European market to Russian gas, Moscow lost its biggest buyer and desperately needs to redirect its exports. For China, the interest is equally concrete, the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz in 2026 blocked the arrival of liquefied natural gas ships from the Middle East and increased the Russian share to 20.7% of Chinese gas imports.
Payments in ruble and yuan and the distancing from the dollar
The second major theme of the meeting between Russia and China is financial integration. In their commercial relations, the two countries already use their local currencies, ruble and yuan, in practically all transactions. The plan discussed in Beijing foresees the creation of mechanisms to further facilitate these transfers, reducing dependence on the Western financial system and shielding bilateral trade against sanctions.
The governor of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, is part of Putin’s delegation to China, signaling that negotiations on payment infrastructure are among the most prioritized. Bilateral trade between Russia and China has grown by about 55% in the last five years, reaching 228 billion dollars. Russia exports energy, minerals, and agricultural products; China sends vehicles, machinery, and electronics. Consolidating a payment system that operates entirely outside the dollar circuit is a step that both sides treat as a matter of economic sovereignty.
The contrast with Trump’s visit
Image: Evan Vucci/AFP
Putin’s presence in Beijing comes less than a week after Donald Trump concluded his visit to the same host. The Republican spent four days in the Chinese capital, discussed trade, Taiwan, and the crisis in Iran, but left without major agreements. While Trump left Beijing almost empty-handed, Russian diplomacy arrives with 40 documents ready for signing.
Xi Jinping himself gave a hint of the relative importance he assigns to the two visitors. During a walk with Trump through the gardens of Zhongnanhai, the Chinese leadership’s residential complex, the American president asked if Xi often received leaders there. The answer was revealing: very rarely, but Putin has been there. The phrase, recorded by the present press, was read by analysts as a sign that the relationship between Russia and China occupies a distinct level in Beijing’s diplomatic hierarchy.
The declaration on the multipolar world
In addition to practical agreements, Russia and China are expected to issue a joint declaration on what they call a “multipolar world and a new type of international relations.” The document formalizes the shared vision of the two governments that the world order should not be dominated by a single power, a direct reference to the United States.
The declaration is not just rhetoric: it accompanies concrete actions such as the construction of the pipeline, financial integration in local currencies, and military and technological cooperation that Russia and China have been deepening since the start of the war in Ukraine. Putin described the relations between the two countries as being at an “unprecedented level” and called Xi “a good long-time friend.” The restricted meeting between the two leaders with only four members on each side is the reserved space for the most sensitive topics, including the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East.
What the rapprochement between Russia and China means in practice
For the global energy market, the advancement of Power of Siberia 2 could reshape supply routes that have been consolidated for decades. If the project materializes, Russia will have managed to partially replace the European market it lost after the invasion of Ukraine, and China will have diversified its supply with a land route less vulnerable to naval blockades.
Analysts like Alexander Gabuev, from the Carnegie Russia-Eurasia Center, assess that China may be leaning towards larger volume land imports, especially after the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz exposed the fragility of relying on maritime transport for 90% of imported oil. The partnership between Russia and China already moves 228 billion dollars a year and signals an architecture of relations designed to last beyond short-term political cycles. The meeting in Beijing is the latest episode of this construction — and possibly the most consequential.
Do you think the partnership between Russia and China will indeed reshape global geopolitics, or does the West still have tools to contain this advance? What catches your attention the most: the pipeline, payments outside the dollar, or the contrast with Trump’s visit? Tell us in the comments.
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