Russia Tries to Reassert Its Claims on China After Trump's Meeting

• Russian officials arrived in Hangzhou on Monday for a two-day visit, where the heads of state of Russia and China signed several agreements.

• This meeting comes after Trump praised his "excellent" talks with Xi Jinping.

• Following US President Donald Trump's high-profile meeting with Xi Jinping, Russian officials appeared eager to reaffirm Moscow's alliance with China on Monday.

• Immediately following Trump's talks with Xi Jinping last week, which the US President described as "excellent," Russia has now sent a large delegation to China for talks and negotiations.

• Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin arrived in Hangzhou on Monday for two days of talks with his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang. According to Russian state media, the two officials signed several agreements to deepen cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, energy, transport, agriculture, and space.

• In comments published by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, Mishustin described his Chinese counterpart as his "dear friend" and said that relations between Russia and China "are at their highest level in their centuries-old history and are developing dynamically in all areas, despite various obstacles and illegal Western sanctions."

• Li Keqiang said that Beijing is ready to strengthen cooperation with Russia despite obstacles, although he did not specify what he was referring to.

• According to TASS, he said, "Despite new external risks and challenges in this process, China and Russia always support each other, maintain strategic contact and dialogue, and strive to jointly overcome difficulties." He further stated that this partnership "demonstrates that China and Russia are good neighbors and reliable partners who can always rely on each other."

• China is Russia's most important and powerful international ally. Beijing has refused to condemn Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the ongoing war, and has reiterated Russia's statement calling the war a "crisis."

• Just before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin and Xi signed a "borderless" partnership, and Russia has tried to use this alliance for both geopolitical support and trade partnerships to mitigate the impact of Western sanctions that have limited its energy export market.

• Before this week's visit, the Kremlin stated that it attaches "great importance" to the talks and has certainly tried to reflect this in the delegation sent to Asia, which includes Mishustin, his Vice President, and several top officials, including the ministers of finance, agriculture, transport, economic development, and trade.

• Space and nuclear energy officials also joined the delegation, including the Director General of Roscosmos and the head of Rosatom.

• Is this the right timing?

• The two-day visit by Russian officials to China comes just days after Trump's high-profile meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, in which he said the two leaders reached "agreements on many issues." Meanwhile, Xi Jinping said Beijing and Washington should be "partners and friends."

• After months of escalating tensions over tariffs and counter-tariffs, widely seen as a "trade truce," Trump said he had reached a one-year agreement with China on rare earth supplies and halved fentanyl-related tariffs on Beijing, bringing the total tariffs on Chinese goods to 47%.

Moscow did not publicly comment on the meeting, reportedly uneasy about its longtime ally China initiating constructive (and rebuilding) dialogue with the United States, with whom relations have deteriorated sharply in recent weeks.

Trump pulled out of face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he did not want "a pointless meeting" and expressing disappointment to Moscow over the lack of progress on the Ukraine war.

Trump further stated that the summit was canceled because "every time I talk to Vladimir, we have a good conversation and then it doesn't work out."

Russia was surprised by the cancellation, and senior Russian officials blamed Western media and "fake news."