The economic pledges, trumpeted by the leaders on the second day of Mr. Xi’s state visit to Moscow, were a sign that China would continue to do business as normal with Russia and that Moscow and Beijing were circling their wagons, economically at least, against any punitive measures from the United States or Europe.
As the two leaders met on Tuesday, Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, visited Kyiv in a show of support that put the geopolitical fault lines created by Russia’s invasion into even sharper relief. It was a significant change for Japan, which has drawn a clear line on the war and joined with other Group of 7 nations to impose sanctions on Russia and provide billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine.
