One of the highlights of Vladimir Putin‘s meeting with Xi Jinping earlier Thursday morning at the Kremlin was the ritual of the Chinese president’s reception of his Russian counterpart.

In the video distributed online by the Russian presidency and the Russian Foreign Ministry, the two leaders can be seen entering a huge hall through different gates, several meters apart.

They then turn their eyes to each other and begin walking across a red carpet to meet in the center of the hall, where their countries’ flags are set up.

After about half a minute…they exchange the customary handshake and pose for photos.