Chinese President visits Putin in Russia

Vladimir Putin has described the Chinese President as his “dear friend” as he welcomed Xi Jinping to the Kremlin – at the start of a two day visit. President Xi praised his Russian counterpart’s “strong leadership” and claimed the two countries shared some similar goals.

Not on the agenda, Mr Putin’s indictment for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, although Beijing will be trying to push its own proposals for dealing with the war in Ukraine.