Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping meet at Samarkand summit amid deepening partnership

Vladimir Putin is also set to meet the leaders of Azerbaijan, India and Turkey in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. (Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan via Reuters)

President Xi Jinping, center, is set to cement his place as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. (Xinhua via AP)

• SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan: Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan early on Thursday afternoon, a schedule distributed by the Russian delegation to media sho
• West watching with anxiety the deepening partnership between China and Russia

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan: Chinese President Xi Jinping met Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Uzbekistan, their first meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, triggering the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
Xi, on his first trip outside China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, met Putin in the ancient Uzbek Silk Road city of Samarkand where they will attend a attend a summit of The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The two leaders are due to discuss the war in Ukraine, tensions over Taiwan and the deepening partnership between rising superpower China and natural resources titan Russia.