Chinese President Xi Jinping flew into Moscow on Monday where he is expected to press Beijing’s role as a potential peacemaker in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While Russian President Vladimir Putin hoped for support against Western pressure.
Mr Xi will be the first national leader to shake Mr Putin’s hand since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him on Friday over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since its invasion.
Moscow said the charge was among a number of “clearly hostile displays” and Beijing said it reflects double standards.
Russia is presenting Mr Xi’s trip, his first since securing an unprecedented third term this month, as evidence that it has a powerful friend prepared to stand with it against a hostile West that it accuses of trying to isolate and defeat Moscow.
“We can feel the geopolitical landscape in the outside world undergoing drastic changes,” Mr Putin said in an article in China’s People’s Daily…