China supports Russia's demands for binding security guarantees in the conflict with the West.

Both countries also demanded an end to NATO expansion to the east on Friday.

This emerges from a joint statement released by the Kremlin at the summit of party and state leader Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin in Beijing.

Both sides said they were "deeply concerned" about serious challenges to international security.

"No state could or should ensure its security in isolation from global security and at the expense of the security of other states," the statement said.

It calls on NATO to "abandon the ideological approaches of the Cold War era" and "respect the sovereignty, security and interests of other countries (...)".

Russia is supplying more gas to China

During his visit to Beijing on Friday, Vladimir Putin also announced that his country would supply more natural gas to China.

During a meeting with head of state and party leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, he announced a new supply contract for ten billion cubic meters per year.

"A step forward has been made in the gas sector," Putin said, according to the Interfax agency.

In addition, solutions were developed for the delivery of hydrocarbons.

According to its own statements, China bought more gas in Russia last year than in 2020. The People's Republic imports so much energy and raw materials from no other country. Moscow is currently still waiting for approval for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany. The federal government has questioned leadership in the event of a military escalation in the Ukraine conflict.

Putin attends the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

His plane landed on Friday afternoon, according to footage broadcast by state broadcaster CCTV.

It is the first personal meeting between the two heads of state since the outbreak of the corona pandemic in spring 2020. At the start of the visit, Putin once again called relations with China "unprecedented".

"As for our bilateral relations, they are developing really gradually, in the spirit of friendship and strategic partnership," Putin said.

"I've known President Xi Jinping for a long time," CCTV had previously quoted Putin as saying.

"As good friends and politicians who share many common views on how to solve world problems, we have always maintained close communication."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has outlined possible Western sanctions in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"We have prepared a robust and comprehensive package of financial and economic sanctions," the German politician told the daily newspapers "Handelsblatt" and "Les Echos".

“This ranges from cutting off access to foreign capital to export controls, especially for technical goods.

These restrictions make the Russian economy even more fragile.”

Von der Leyen named “high-tech components that Russia cannot simply replace” as possible examples of the goods then affected – for example in the fields of artificial intelligence and armaments, quantum computers and space travel.

Regarding the effects on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project through the Baltic Sea, the CDU politician said that Russia uses gas supplies as a means of exerting pressure.

"That's why you can't take Nord Stream 2 off the table in view of the sanctions, that's very clear."

For its part, China had recently sided more clearly with Russia in the dispute between Russia and the NATO countries over Ukraine.

Last week, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Russia's security concerns "legitimate" and said they should "be taken seriously and addressed."

Among other things, Putin is demanding a fundamental renunciation of any further eastward expansion of NATO.

The military alliance rejects this.