As Putin and Xi meet, the power dynamics between Russia and China keep the West guessing

Russia's close relationship with superpower China is under close scrutiny as Russian President Vladimir Putin meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday.

As both countries' ties with the West become fractured amid the war in Ukraine and global trade disputes, the latest meeting between is being closely followed for signs that the leaders will deepen their own economic, military and geopolitical cooperation.

As Putin was greeted by Xi at a welcome ceremony in Beijing at the start of his two-day state visit, he said that "it is of fundamental importance that relations between Russia and China are not opportunistic and are not directed against anyone. Our cooperation in world affairs today is one of the main stabilizing factors in the international arena."

The Kremlin said the leaders would discuss "a range of issues of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction," with a joint statement and bilateral agreements expected to be signed.

Putin told Chinese state media ahead of the visit that "Russia-China relations have reached an all-time high, and even in the face of severe international situations, relations between the two countries continue to strengthen," news agency Xinhua reported.

The Russia-China relationship is "inescapable," Sam Greene, director of the Democratic Resilience Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), told CNBC.

"It would be probably too much to call them strategic partners, but they are strategically aligned in a lot of respects, maybe not entirely within their own making and maybe not entirely to their own liking, but inevitably as a result of decisions they've made and decisions that Western governments have made that really have pushed them together," Greene