Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist party of China and the People's Republic of China's president, was received at Moscow airport by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and not Russian President Vladmir Putin as expected.
Russia has been at odds with the Olympic movement ever since its own Sochi Winter Games in 2014, where its athletes were found to have benefited for years from a large-scale state-sponsored doping programme - something Moscow denied.
A top US intelligence official has said that there is a ''substantial potential'' for security threats against the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, but the key concern for an attack centers on locations outside the main event areas.
Russian meteorologists have no concerns about a shortage of snow for the Winter Olympics in February but believe avalanches and poor visibility could disrupt the Sochi Games.
The U.N. General Assembly called on Wednesday for an international truce during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia and urged Moscow "to promote social inclusion without discrimination" amid outrage over the country's ban on gay "propaganda" among minors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics on Friday determined to prove his doubters wrong after militant attacks, a row over gay rights and ballooning costs overshadowed preparations.
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