Putin, Xi hail 'great power' ties at talks defying West
Samarkand (Uzbekistan) (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for their first face-to-face talks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine on Thursday, hailing their strategic ties in defiance of the West. Sitting across from each other at two long rounded tables and flanked by aides, the two leaders met on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan. The meeting was part of Xi's first trip abroad since the early days of the pandemic and for Putin a chance to show Russia has not been fully isolated despi...