By Alex Gore PUBLISHED: 08:17 EST, 22 March 2013 | UPDATED: 09:06 EST, 22 March 2013 Russia has urged the world's other major emerging economies to join forces to counter Western clout. President Vladimir Putin, a frequently critic of Europe and the U.S., said the BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - should broaden their role and get more involved in geopolitics. His comments come as China's new communist leader sent a defiant signal to the U.S. and Europe today as he arrived in Russia with his first lady on his first foreign trip as president.
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Mr Putin tells BRICS nations to 'get more involved' in geopolitics
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Xi Jinping's visit to Russia is his first foreign trip as leader
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It underlines importance of Beijing's growing alliance with Moscow
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Visit overshadows Moscow meeting of Russian and European officials
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It follows £1.3bn coal deal between Chinese and Russian companies
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Mr Xi will meet Mr Putin later and they could preside over deals that would make @placeholder Russia's top customer for oil - although they are not expected to sign a long-sought agreement on supplies of pipeline gas to China.
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Mr Putin has said he wants to 'catch the Chinese wind in our economic sail' and that desire will grow stronger if @placeholder overtakes the U.S. as the world's largest economy during Mr Xi's 10-year term.
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Friendship: Mr Xi, 59, has fondly recalled how he read @placeholder literature in his younger days
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A smiling Mr Xi, 59, recalled that he read @placeholder literature in his younger days.
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Mr @placeholder, 60, said Russian-Chinese relations were at 'the best in their centuries-long history'.
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It was built by a Beijing-controlled consortium with materials shipped from @placeholder.
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But the rising influence of China, with its proximity to Russia's sparsely populated eastern parts and nearly 10 times more people, has also given rise in @placeholder to worries China may one day challenge Moscow's influence on its own territory.