Following is a chronology of major events in relations between Beijing and Moscow since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 as Russian President Vladimir Putin began a visit to China on Tuesday.

Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) shakes hands with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing prior to holding official talks March 21, 2006. [newsphoto]

December 1992 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin makes his first official visit to China.

September 1994 - Russia and China agree not to target each other with nuclear weapons. The two countries also sign an agreement on demarcation of the western part of their border. A pact on the eastern border was signed in May 1991.

May 1995 - Chinese President Jiang Zemin visits Moscow to take part in celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War Two.

April 1996 - Yeltsin visits China. Russia, China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan sign agreement on confidence-building measures along former Soviet-Chinese border.

April 1997 - Jiang and Yeltsin issue a declaration in Moscow outlining their vision of the post-Cold War world and opposition to claims by any country for world leadership -- a reference to the United States. Russia and China also sign a treaty with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on cutting troop levels along the old Sino-Soviet border.

July 2000 - Putin and Jiang cap a summit in Beijing with a joint statement saying missile shields for the United States and Asia threatened a new arms race.

July 2001 - Putin and Jiang sign a friendship pact to defend mutual interests and boost trade, replacing a treaty that expired more than two decades earlier.

October 2004 - Russia and China sign a protocol finalising border demarcation, a thorny issue between the two giants for four decades. Russian gas giant Gazprom and Chinese oil company CNPC sign a strategic partnership deal.

August 2005 - China and Russia hold their first joint military exercises.

March 21, 2006 - Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao agree to extend energy cooperation.