Days After Trump, Xi Hosts Putin, Kremlin Confirms BRICS Summit Attendance in Delhi

Just days after he hosted Donald Trump in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping signalled a geopolitical balancing act by hosting his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday (May 19, 2026).

Putin will be on a state visit, his 25th to Beijing, for two days till Wednesday (May 20), as Xi seeks to project himself and China as a stable and predictable world power.

Xi’s hosting of his “old friend” Putin offers to balance China’s relationship with both the US and Russia, after US President Trump had a successful two-day visit for a summit meeting last week.

The two visits came amidst several global conflicts involving both the US and Russia. While the US, along with Israel, attacked Iran on February 28, Russia and Ukraine have been at each other’s throats for over four years now, since February 2022, when Moscow launched a military operation on Kyiv’s territory.

The two conflict that have garnered the global attention also came amidst a trade war and an energy crisis facing the world.

Both China and Russia projected Putin’s visit to meet with X as further evidence of their “all-weather” friendship. This, even as the US-led West has urged China to put pressure on Russia to end the Ukraine war.

The two nations and their leaders are expected to send a message to the world that they are pace mediators in West Asia, while China and Russia would reiterate their support to each other’s core interests.

Xi is likely to press for an additional energy deal with Putin, even as China, the world’s second-largest economy, is facing pressures due to Western sanctions and the energy supply disruptions due to the war in West Asia.

The back-to-back visits of Trump and Putin to Beijing would be exploited by China to show the world its growing geopolitical importance.

The Putin visit is expected to generate positive optics for Beijing, just as Trump’s trip did last week. It is to be seen if the Russian President’s visit is equally a damp squib on major commercial agreements like the US President’s.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Kremlin announced that Putin would be attending the BRICS summit to be hosted by India in September this year as the grouping chair in 2026.

Kremlin’s international affairs official, Yuri Ushakov, said Putin would also meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a summit meeting when he is in New Delhi on September 12 and 13. Putin and Xi are also planning to meet on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi.

Putin last visited India in December 2025 for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit. Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended a two-day conclave of BRICS member states in New Delhi.