• Xi Jinping met with Vladimir Putin at the beginning of a three-day visit to Russia.
• His first since his strategic ally Putin started his unjustified invasion of Ukraine last year.
• Despite strong scepticism in Kyiv and the West, the Chinese leader is trying to position himself as a peacemaker.

Xi Jinping met with Vladimir Putin at the beginning of a three-day visit to Russia, his first since his strategic ally Putin started his unjustified invasion of Ukraine last year. Despite strong scepticism in Kyiv and the West, the Chinese leader is trying to position himself as a peacemaker.

Only a few days after the Russian President was charged with war crimes in Ukraine by the International Criminal Court in The Hague and had an arrest warrant issued for him, Putin welcomed Xi to the Kremlin on Monday.

During Xi’s three-day tour, Ukraine is anticipated to be a major topic of conversation. This visit will be widely observed for any potential effects on an ongoing conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and sparked a severe humanitarian crisis.

“In the last few years, China has made a colossal leap forward,” Putin told Xi, sitting side by side with him at the Kremlin on Monday afternoon. “In the whole world, this evokes interest, and unfortunately even envy.”

China has marketed the tour as a “journey of friendship, collaboration, and peace” as part of an effort from Beijing to position itself as a major advocate for the conflict’s resolution. But given the widespread worldwide criticism of the Russian president’s war, several Western capitals are likely to view Xi’s visit as a ringing support of the Russian president.

During a segment of the conversation on Monday that was made public, Putin reiterated his claim to Xi that he is “always open to the negotiating process,” despite his repeated unwillingness to negotiate with Kiev about a pullout from Ukrainian territory.

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