BEIJING, China (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China this week on the invitation of leader Xi Jinping, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Putin will be in Beijing from Thursday to Friday, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, in the Russian leader’s second visit to China in just over six months.

It will be the Russian leader’s first trip abroad since his March re-election and his second in just over six months to China.

Analysts say Russia is increasingly dependent on China as a crucial economic lifeline since the West hit it with unprecedented sanctions over its military offensive.

Beijing has rebuffed criticism over its ties with Moscow, hailing its “no limits” partnership as it enjoys cheap Russian energy imports and access to vast natural resources, including steady gas shipments via the Power of Siberia pipeline.

But as that economic partnership comes under close scrutiny in the West, Chinese banks fearing US sanctions that might cut them off from the global financial system have begun turning the screws on Russian businesses.

“The Russians want China to do more to support it, which China is reluctant to do because it doesn’t want to jeopardize its relationship with the West,” Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told Agence France-Presse.

Trade between China and Russia has boomed since the Ukraine invasion — which Beijing has never condemned — and hit $240 billion in 2023, according to Chinese customs figures.

But as Washington vowed to go after financial institutions that facilitate Moscow, Chinese exports to Russia dipped during March and April, down from a surge early in the year.

That comes as Beijing finds itself facing growing calls to decouple from Russia — or face consequences its struggling economy is ill-equipped to handle.

“Chinese banks are concerned about reputational costs as they seek to forestall major sanctions,” Elizabeth Wishnick, a Senior Research Scientist at CNA, told AFP.

“Certainly major Chinese banks would want to avoid that scenario given current economic difficulties domestically.”

Putin’s post-election trip to Beijing echoes Xi’s own to Russia after his anointing as leader last year.

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Conflict in Sudan and Gaza pushed the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) worldwide to a record 75.9 million at the end of 2023, a non-government organization monitor said Tuesday.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) said the figure was a new end-of-year high by its count, with the number of people displaced within their own borders having increased by more than 50 percent in the last five years.

The figure was up from 71.1 million at the end of 2022.

While refugees are those who have fled abroad, internal displacement refers to the forced movement of people within the country they live in.

In its annual Global Report on Internal Displacement, the IDMC said that 68.3 million people worldwide were displaced by conflict and violence, and 7.7 million by disasters.

Over the past five years, the number of IDPs resulting from conflict has increased by 22.6 million, with the two biggest increases in 2022 and 2023.

At 9.1 million, Sudan has the highest number of IDPs recorded for a single country since records began in 2008, the monitor said. Almost half of all IDPs live in sub-Saharan Africa.