China's Xinhua state news agency praised Putin's visit as one that "will mark ever-deepening China-Russia cooperation". But the two giant neighbours have so far failed to seal a huge gas deal that has been negotiated for years.
During the visit, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin is due to hold talks with Vice Premier Wang Qishan to try to narrow disagreements that have held Russia back from signing a 30-year deal to supply China with up to 68 billion cubic metres of gas per year
.In one sign that the energy talks are unlikely to bring breakthroughs, Russia's gas export chief, Alexander Medvedev, said he would not be part of formal talks.
Medvedev, chief executive of state-controlled gas company Gazprom's export arm, said he was in Beijing merely to oblige if Chinese officials wished to speak to him.
The tortuous gas negotiations have been a reminder that, despite frequent professions of brotherly goodwill between Moscow and Beijing, relations are held back by mutual distrust, especially on the Russian side, extending back to the Cold War, when border disputes almost erupted in full-fledged war.
But the two neighbours have found common ground in opposing what both see as excessive meddling and pressure on the international stage by the United States and its allies.
Russia and China joined forces last week to veto a European-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syria for its bloody crackdown on protesters.
Russia wants to diversify its trade with China, which is expected to grow to $100 billion in 2020 from $59.3 billion in 2010. And Putin has brought an army of Russian executives including the CEOs of state-controlled energy firms Gazprom and Rosneft and aluminium producer UC RUSAL, all eager to exchange their wares for Chinese cash.
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