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CHINA AND RUSSIA

The leaders of Russia and China met in a virtual summit Wednesday, a meeting seen as an effort to boost the relationship between the two nations amid deteriorating relations with Western nations and economic sanctions, the Associated Press reported.

Officials from both sides said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, spoke about buttressing relations between the two countries. They also addressed recent security issues, including Moscow’s heightened tensions with the West over Russian troop buildup on Ukraine’s border.

Putin said that Russia needs assurances that NATO will not expand to Ukraine or deploy its forces there. The Kremlin has previously said it has no plans to invade Ukraine and blamed the latter for tensions because of its move to mobilize troops to the country’s war-torn east.

During the meeting, Xi said that he “understands Russia’s concerns and fully supports our initiative to work out these security guarantees for Russia.”

The Chinese leader was also quoted saying that both countries “need to carry out more joint actions to more effectively safeguard our security and interests.”

Putin and Xi also agreed to meet in Beijing in February during the 2022 Winter Olympics. Multiple Western nations, including the United States, Canada and Britain, have refused to send officials to the event as part of a diplomatic boycott because of China’s human rights record.

Wednesday’s summit underscores recent efforts by both countries to foster closer ties with each other to counter US dominance in the international sphere. Both countries have been subjected to Western sanctions: Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and its poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny; China over the treatment of its Muslim Uyghurs and crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

The recent meeting was also seen as a counter to the Biden administration’s “Summit for Democracy” last week. The summit was widely seen as an effort to build a united front against authoritarian governments such as those in Russia and China, according to the New York Times.