"I'm happy to say that our plans to launch bilateral consultations in the security sphere are being implemented," Putin said at the start of talks with a member of the Chinese State Council, Tang Jiaxuan.

"Our relations in the political, economic and security spheres and in the field of military cooperation have been developing intensively," the Russian president added.

He noted that "a quite large joint military exercise is set for this year."

Russia and China are due to conduct their first ever joint military exercises in August or September in what officials to better coordinate the fight against terrorism.

In December, Russian officials said the exercises would be on Chinese territory and include the army, navy, air force units, and submarines.

Russia and China have had tense relations, with the two sides fighting two brief border wars in the 1950s, but the border dispute was resolved last year when Moscow gave up rights to a few small disputed islands.

Russia remains one of China's top arms suppliers, with a 15-year-old arms embargo in effect from the European Union.

Tang stressed that Moscow was a "main partner for strategic cooperation" for Beijing and said this marked the first time that China had decided to set up a mechanism for security consultations with another country.

Russian-Chinese defense cooperation gained momentum in the 1990s after Western nations imposed the embargo following the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protestors in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Cooperation was cemented in 2000 at a summit meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his then Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin.

Putin meanwhile said that Chinese President Hu Jintao would visit Russia for World War II victory celebrations in May.

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