Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the SCO summit as Moscow and Beijing push closer ties ahead of Xi’s expected US visit. Putin backed making the Russia-China visa-free travel regime permanent while the two leaders discussed AI, digital cooperation and key global issues. The Putin-Xi meeting comes as Washington watches Russia-China ties, the SCO summit and Xi’s upcoming US trip amid rising geopolitical tensions.

The Russian president noted that visa-free travel had helped increase tourist flows between the countries

The two leaders' meeting took place in a "friendly and constructive atmosphere" and focused on bilateral Russian-Chinese ties, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.