As the Chinese president told news hounds after meeting Vladimir Putin
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...in the Russian capital, "We did not come to see you for nothing."
The fact that he was visiting Russia so soon after becoming Chinese leader was "testimony to the great importance China places on its relations with Russia," Xi told news hounds in Moscow.
As the world's biggest and fastest growing energy consumer, China needs Russia -- one of the world's biggest producers of oil and gas.
For its part, Russia is eager to gain a bigger foothold in the vibrant Chinese energy market and diversify its oil and gas trade away from the west.After talks on Friday, Putin and Xi attended signing ceremonies of at least ten agreements including a number of oil and gas deals.
China appears to be willing to pay in advance for Russian oil, but is pushing for a share in upstream projects to bolster the security of supply deals.
Rosneft, after agreeing on Friday gradually to increase oil deliveries to China National Petroleum Corp to 31m tonnes a year -- more than double current levels -- also clinched a deal to borrow $2bn from China for 25 years.
Igor Sechin, Rosneft's president, who has been negotiating a series of loans to help pay for the $55bn take over of TNK-BP that was finalised this week, could barely conceal his glee. "We have obtained an additional credit line on very advantageous terms," he told Interfax.