On Sunday, the Kremlin published an article written by Russian President Vladimir Putin praising his country and China's growing alliance. Putin's article is set to run in China in The People's Daily.
"The Russia-China relations," Putin writes, "have reached the highest level in their history, and are gaining even more strength; they surpass Cold War-time military-political alliances in their quality, with no one to constantly order and no one to constantly obey, without limitations or taboos.
"We are committed to the principle of the indivisibility of security, which is being grossly violated by the NATO bloc," the Russian president continued. "We are deeply concerned over the irresponsible and outright dangerous actions that jeopardize nuclear security. We reject illegitimate unilateral sanctions, which must be lifted.
"Russia is open to the political and diplomatic resolution of the Ukraine crisis. It was not Russia who broke off the peace talks back in April 2022."
Putin goes on to say it is the West's desire "to retain its international dominance and preserve the unipolar world order. It is crystal clear that NATO is striving for a global reach of activities and seeking to penetrate the Asia-Pacific. It obvious that there are forces persistently working to split the common Eurasian space into a network of 'exclusive clubs' and military blocs that would serve to contain our countries' development and harm their interests. This won't work."
On Sunday, Bloomberg confirmed that Xi Jinping would be meeting with Putin as part of a "three-day visit to Moscow this week." It is anticipated that the Chinese president's visit to Russia was motivated by "brokering an end" or a peace deal to the war in Ukraine.
Putin ended his article by saying he is "convinced that our friendship and partnership based on the strategic choice of the peoples of the two countries will further grow and gain strength for the well-being and prosperity of Russia and China. This visit of the president of the PRC to Russia will undoubtedly contribute to that."