FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Sept. 15, 2022. Putin is traveling to China on Thursday on his first foreign trip as he starts his fifth term, a visit that underlines an increasingly close partnership. (Alexandr Demyanchuk, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Vladimir Putin walks to his presidential inauguration in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, on May 7, 2024. Putin is traveling to China on Thursday on his first foreign trip as he starts his fifth term, a visit that underscores an increasingly close partnership between Moscow and Beijing. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File)
FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose prior to their talks on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, on Oct. 18, 2023. Putin is traveling to China on Thursday on his first foreign trip as he starts his fifth term, a visit that underlines an increasingly close partnership between Moscow and Beijing. (Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via A, File)
FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, gestures while speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on March 20, 2023. Putin is traveling to China on Thursday on his first foreign trip as he starts his fifth term, a visit that underlines an increasingly close partnership. (Sergei Karpukhin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, gestures while speaking to Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Sept. 16, 2022. Putin is traveling to China on Thursday on his first foreign trip as he starts his fifth term, a visit that underlines an increasingly close partnership between Moscow and Beijing. (Sergei Bobylev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)