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Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met at the summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The two leaders met on Thursday as Putin’s relations with the West continued to unravel over his war on Ukraine and as China’s military harassment of Taiwan seemed set to put Xi on a collision course with Taipei’s United States and European allies – sanctions being hinted as the first point of impact, reports Aljazeera.
Putin and Xi had last met in February, promising that the Russia-China relationship would be “without limits”.
Xi called Putin his “old friend”, but the mutually endorsing speeches of the two authoritarian heavyweights were muted.
Putin sat at some distance from Xi, on the opposite sides of two long rounded tables where they were flanked by their delegations.
“We understand your questions and concern about this,” Putin added.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
