Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun a state visit to Beijing, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow. It is expected that up to 40 bilateral agreements will be signed. According to former Czech Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek, one of these agreements likely concerns the construction of the "Siberian Power 2" oil pipeline, which will strengthen China's energy independence from maritime transport. This will also allow Russia to redirect a portion of its raw materials, previously destined for the European market, to China.

Paroubek highlighted the exceptionally active Chinese diplomacy in recent days. Two weeks ago, the Iranian Foreign Minister was in China, followed last week by the President of Tajikistan, and now Putin. "It's almost as if the circle is closing," Paroubek said. He added that published footage on social media shows a warm and very friendly personal relationship between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

The Russian President is accompanied by a number of ministers, while only Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin remained in Russia. The negotiations are expected to be multi-faceted and, according to Paroubek, will lead to a further deepening of cooperation between the two major powers. It is anticipated that the high frequency of meetings between the two presidents will continue, with the number of such meetings exceeding several dozen in the past twelve years.

CMG