Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping failed to reach an agreement on the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline and signed only relatively minor bilateral agreements during Putin’s official visit to China, the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) notes in its report.
“The agreements signed were relatively minor compared to the Kremlin’s hopes that Putin’s visit would culminate in the signing of an agreement on ” Power of Siberia-2″. On 18 May, Ushakov (Putin’s aide – ed.) singled out the pipeline as one of the priority items of the Russian president’s official visit to China, and Putin’s failure to ensure the signing of the agreement demonstrates the current limitations of Russian-Chinese cooperation,” the report said.
Analysts pointed out that Putin and Xi, at a joint press conference on 20 May, praised Russia-China relations and how the countries actively cooperate in the energy sector, noting that Russia is one of China’s largest oil suppliers. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that Russia and China had reached agreements on energy projects and “something else very important,” but did not specify what exactly, and the two sides, in particular, failed to reach an agreement on the construction of the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline.
“Russia and China have been at odds over ” Power of Siberia-2 ” since at least 2024, as Russia faces a more pressing need for the pipeline to replace export revenues lost after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and China uses its advantage to extract concessions from Russia on this issue,” the report said.
Putin was in China for a two-day visit on 19 and 20 May. The Russian president met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on 20 May for talks focused on deepening energy ties and showing a united front against what both leaders call a Western-dominated world order.
But despite repeated promises of friendship and strategic coordination, Putin’s state visit on 20 May ended without any public breakthrough on the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline, a multi-billion-dollar project that Moscow considers critical to replacing the lost European gas market following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Negotiations on the project have repeatedly stalled over questions of construction costs, supply volumes and Beijing’s concerns about over-reliance on Russian energy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the “main parameters of mutual understanding” on the pipeline have been defined, including its route and construction method. He did not provide further details and said there was no clear timeline for the megaproject as “some nuances still need to be agreed upon.”
A joint statement issued after the meeting noted only that Putin and Xi “agreed to continue to deepen comprehensive partnership relations in the energy sector” and “deepen mutually beneficial co-operation in the oil, gas and coal sectors”.