China's leader Xi Jinping lands in Moscow on Monday to show support for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and probe possible steps toward peace in Ukraine.
After the three-day visit to Russia, Xi is expected to have talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The conversation would be the first since the start of the war. Analysts say the likelihood of a big breakthrough on Ukraine is slim because Russian and Ukrainian negotiating positions remain so far apart.
For Xi, who this month locked up a rare third term as China's president, the Russia trip offers a chance to strengthen relations with a key neighbor and partner-of-convenience. At the same time, the trip could help burnish China's credentials as a global heavyweight.
"He can cast his visit to Moscow in the context of some grand international diplomacy, [yet] he doesn't actually have to achieve much to accomplish this goal," said Paul Haenle, a China expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former director on the National Security Council under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
On the eve of the Ukraine invasion a year ago, Russia and China declared a "no limits" friendship. And while many believe China's leadership was caught off guard by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that followed, Beijing has refused to condemn the move, instead trumpeting the strength of Beijing-Moscow ties.
Ahead of his visit to Moscow, Xi wrote in the state-owned Russian Gazette newspaper that the two countries have "cemented political mutual trust and fostered a new model of major-country relations."
"The bilateral relationship has grown more mature and resilient," Xi declared. On the Ukraine crisis, Xi urged all parties to "embrace the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and pursue equal-footed, rational and results-oriented dialogue and consultation."
China's steadfast support of Moscow throughout the war has dented its image in western Europe, where Beijing is keen to forge deeper relations.
Rana Mitter, a professor of Chinese history and politics at the University of Oxford, says China may hope the Moscow trip will help persuade some in Europe "to take a more America-skeptic position on questions of security and economic cooperation."
"If the case is that [China] actually can talk to Putin and try and mediate some of the difficulties with Russia that those of you in Western Europe simply cannot," he said, "that's a proposition that at least some leaders in the region might listen to."