Is Vladimir Putin desperate enough to let China’s Xi Jinping get his way over Ukraine war?

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping

Timothy Ash© Independent.co.uk

Outwardly the summit in Moscow between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping is an attempt to send a strong signal to the West that the “partnership without limits” agreement – signed between the two men at the Beijing Winter Olympics on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – is still just that.