Russia President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on his 66th birthday on Saturday as the two leaders gathered in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe for the fifth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Putin met Xi at the hotel where he was staying with a set of birthday gifts, including a cake with Chinese characters and a box of Russian ice cream, and praised Xi's role in promoting Russia-China relations.

Xi thanked Putin and sent him Chinese tea in return, saying Putin is very welcomed and popular in China.