Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping have announced they will work together more closely to offset US pressure as part of Putin’s two-day state visit to China.
Putin is seeking to firm up his relationship with Xi, to send a signal to the rest of the world about Russia’s status, and to offset economic and political pressure from the west over the Ukraine war. And he has been partly successful, on the political front at least.
Russia has become increasingly reliant on China because of western sanctions imposed since the reinvasion of Ukraine in 2022, so Putin desperately needs to reinforce economic relations, and overcome any fears Xi may have about the risks of taking the relationship to a stronger footing.
