Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, does not often enjoy sharing top billing at a summit, especially one he is hosting. But Chinese president Xi Jinping is no ordinary guest.
Mr Xi arrives in Russia on Wednesday to be feted as one of Mr Putin’s closest foreign allies. His three-day visit is expected to include signing of new trade deals and investment pledges, alongside joint rhetorical sallies against what they see as US over-reach.
With both Moscow and Beijing under fire from the US — whether through sanctions or Donald Trump’s trade war — Mr Putin and Mr Xi have struck up a warm friendship that defies decades of mistrust between their two countries.
The two leaders are building ties of increasing significance, defying many analysts' expectations
that theirs would be a shortlived marriage of convenience. The summit is expected to add more heft to a developing alliance that already spans energy and defence co-operation.
As if to symbolically anchor their bond, bolts were put in place to secure the frame of the first road bridge spanning the Heilong, or Amur, river between north-east China's Heihe and Blagoveshchensk in Russia’s Far East on May 31. It is expected to open later this year.