Chinese President Hu Jintao is to visit Moscow next week for talks with Russia’s leadership and the opening of China Year in Russia, Russian news agencies reported Monday.

Hu’s three-day visit to the Russian capital comes amid moves by the two giant neighbours to increase both economic and political ties and marks the communist Chinese leader’s first official visit to Moscow since 2005.

Russia is currently building an 11 billion-dollar oil pipeline to meet huge demand for the fuel in China and other Asian markets, and Moscow and Beijing are the largest members of the five-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

A statement from the Kremlin’s press service said the meeting would include “high-level talks and the participation of the heads of state in the opening ceremonies of China Year in Russia and the National Exhibit of China.”

China Year is to include a series of cultural festivals across Russia and government-sponsored pushes to increase economic cooperation.

Although relations between the Soviet Union and China, the world’s two largest communist states, were often strained, Russia has traditionally been the largest supplier of military hardware to China. To this day Moscow comprises 90 per cent of Beijing’s military imports.

Both veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia and China have taken similar positions on issues including Iran’s nuclear programme.

The two countries have pushed for a diplomatic approach with Tehran, stymying efforts by the West to impose tougher sanctions on Iran for its uranium enrichment activities.

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