U.S. President Joe Biden may have his alliance of democracies, but as a video summit on Wednesday underscored, Russia and China still have each other.
President Xi Jinping of China, facing a diplomatic boycott of this winter’s Beijing Olympics from Biden and others, secured a public pledge from President Vladimir Putin of Russia that he would attend — the first national leader to RSVP.
Putin, facing threats of crushing Western sanctions if Russian forces attack Ukraine, took in Xi's proposal that Russia and China cooperate to "more effectively safeguard the security interests of both parties.”