Vladimir Putin was welcomed to China by its leader Xi Jinping in a ceremony on Thursday, 16 May, as he began his first foreign trip since being re-elected.
The Russian president was greeted with full military honours at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, the massive seat of the ceremonial legislature close to Tiananmen Square.
Xi congratulated Putin on his fifth term in offfice.
The election was widely dismissed as a sham for offering Russians no real option for political change.
Putin, like Xi, has not laid out any plans for any potential successors.