BEIJING (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Tuesday night in China for meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping less than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump wrapped up his own trip to Beijing.

Putin’s plane landed in Beijing, where he was greeted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and an honor guard, as well as youths in light blue shirts waving Chinese and Russian flags and chanting, “Welcome, welcome, warmly welcome!”

His two-day visit is likely to be closely watched as Beijing seeks to maintain stable relations with the United States while also preserving strong ties with Russia.

The Kremlin has said Putin and Xi plan to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries, but also “key international and regional issues.” The visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship signed in 2001.

China is a key trading partner for Russia, especially after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Beijing has said it is neutral in the conflict while maintaining trade ties with the Kremlin despite economic and financial sanctions by the U.S. and Europe.

Putin said in a video address released before his visit that bilateral ties are at “a truly unprecedented level” and the relationship plays an important role globally, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.

There is “no connection” between the visits by Trump and Putin, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Monday, noting the trip by the Russian leader was agreed in advance, several days after Putin and Xi spoke via videoconference on Feb. 4.

“The Trump visit was about stabilizing the world’s most important bilateral relationship; the Putin visit is about reassuring a long-standing strategic partner,” said Wang Zichen, deputy secretary-general for the Beijing-based think tank Center for China & Globalization. “For China, these two tracks are not mutually exclusive.”

Putin and Xi call each other ‘friend’

Putin last visited China in September 2025 to attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin, watch a military parade honoring the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, and hold talks with Xi.

At the time, Xi called his counterpart an “old friend ” while Putin addressed Xi as “dear friend.” In China, “old friend” is a very rare diplomatic term used by the government and party to describe favored foreigners.

In April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Beijing and met Xi, who described the bilateral relationship as “precious” in the current international context. Xi said China and Russia needed to strengthen and defend their shared interests.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said over the weekend that Putin’s trip also would allow Russia to receive direct updates and exchange views with China on its talks with the U.S.

During Trump’s visit, Xi described the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and China as the world’s most important and said they should see each other as partners rather than rivals. By the end of the two-day summit, the countries said they would work on a new framework to manage “a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability.”

Wang of the center for China & Globalization observed, “Beijing wants stable relations with the West, continued strategic trust with Moscow, and enough diplomatic room to present itself as an unbiased major power capable of talking to all sides.”

China is Russia’s primary trade partner

For some, Putin’s visit is meant to reinforce the partnership between Russia and China that has strengthened in recent years.

China has become Russia’s top trading partner following the start of the war in Ukraine, and is the top customer for Russian oil and gas supplies. Moscow expects the war in Iran to increase the demand. China also has ignored demands from the West to stop providing high-tech components for Russia’s weapons industries.

Ushakov, the Russian presidential aide, said Russia’s oil exports to China grew by 35% in the first quarter of 2026 and that Russia is one of the biggest exporters of natural gas to China.

During “the crisis in the Middle East,” Russia remains a reliable energy supplier and China is a “responsible consumer,” Ushakov said.

Putin noted earlier this month that Moscow and Beijing have reached “a very substantial step forward in our cooperation in the oil and gas sector.”

“Practically all the key issues have been agreed upon,” he said. “If we succeed in finalizing these details and bringing them to a conclusion during this visit, I will be extremely pleased.”

Putin also praised their bilateral relationship as a crucial, balancing force in international relations.

“Interaction between such nations as China and Russia undoubtedly serves as a factor of deterrence and stability,” he said.

Moscow welcomes China’s dialogue with the U.S. as another stabilizing element for the global economy, Putin added.

“We stand only to benefit from this, from the stability and constructive engagement between the U.S. and China,” he said.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee the management of a quarter-billion acres of public lands on Monday, as the administration pushes ahead with more mining and drilling while reversing conservation plans.

Former congressman Steve Pearce will lead the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management following Monday’s 46-43 confirmation vote. Pearce’s background as a Republican Party leader in New Mexico known for supporting public land leasing and industry made him a contentious pick. Democrats and environmental groups were strongly opposed.

He attempted to assuage any fears during his February confirmation hearing by noting that he grew up on a family farm where conserving the land and water was a necessity.

“The security and economic health of the country, especially the western states, rests squarely with the BLM,” he testified. “We can and must balance the different uses of public land. Local economies and future generations depend on us doing our job right.”

The land bureau has about 10,000 employees who manage roughly 10% of land in the U.S. It’s also responsible for 700 million acres (283 million hectares) of underground minerals, including major reserves of oil, natural gas and coal.

Trump and Republicans in Congress have been unraveling regulations from former President Joe Biden’s administration that are viewed as burdensome to industry. They have opened millions of acres of public lands for mining and drilling and canceled land plans and conservation strategies formulated under Biden.

The Democratic Party of New Mexico prior has called Pearce “an outright enemy of public lands,” suggesting he’s beholden to the oil and gas industry.

The Center for Western Priorities said Pearce’s confirmation was part of a broad assault by Trump and Republicans on public lands, pointing to the recent cancellation of grazing rules and other changes.

Pearce, a former fighter pilot and Vietnam War veteran, served seven terms in the U.S. House representing a district that spans oil fields, including portions of the Permian Basin and vast tracts of other public land.

He had a conservative voting record and advocated for ranchers when parts of Lincoln National Forest were closed to protect the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse.

Pearce has said that his time in Congress and his visits to constituents showed him that the federal government had become what he called an absentee landlord. Instead of partnering with states and local communities on land management, he said the government was ruling over them.

As director, he vowed he would ensure local input would be part of his decision-making process.

While in Congress, Pearce urged the U.S. Interior Department to reduce the size of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument outside Las Cruces, New Mexico, as part of a nationwide review of monument designations during Trump’s first term. He said a reduction would preserve traditional business enterprises on public lands. That earned him lasting ire from environmentalists who called for his nomination to be rejected.

___ Associated Press writer Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico, contributed to this report.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.