Russia, for example, had begun to appear as a potential player in the region, with China, carving a niche like the EU without directly confronting the US. But Putin’s recent troubles, from the drop in oil prices (and the consequent drop in the ruble and in foreign reserves) to sanctions..…

After all, if no U.S. contractor, supplier, labor union or bank will deal with him, would Vladimir Putin, China or Iran be any more naïve? ..…

President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in September in Vladivostok, Russia. ..…

A glimpse of the “real nature” of the Russia-China relationship can be partly gathered from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks on the topic during a 2016 interview with China’s Xinhau news agency. ... China has become Russia’s weapons industry’s biggest..…