In the early hours of this morning, Vladimir Putin touched down in Beijing to attend the third forum of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) at Xi Jinping’s invitation. The trip is clearly important to Putin: it is just the second time that he has left Russia, and the first time travelling beyond the former Soviet Union, since the international criminal court (ICC) issued a warrant for his arrest in March.
Xi invited Putin to attend the forum back in March in a show of unity when the former visited Moscow just days after the ICC issued its warrant. At the time, the visit – during which both leaders were at great pains to describe each other as ‘dear friend’ – was seen as a triumph for Putin in the face of the acute isolation imposed on him by the West in response to his invasion of Ukraine. With his visit to Beijing, this success is something he will be looking to build on.
Russia’s part in a ‘multipolar world’ relies heavily on China’s patronage, diplomatically and economically
Beijing has gone to great lengths to keep details of the BRI forum, held to mark the tenth anniversary of Xi’s global infrastructure development strategy, under wraps.
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