MOSCOW (AP) — The leaders of Russia and China have hailed increasingly close ties between their countries and announced the extension of a 20-year-old friendship treaty, a show of unity amid their tensions with the West. Speaking in a video call Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the treaty signed in July 2001 in Moscow helped take relations between Russia and China to an “unprecedented height” and would be extended for another five years. Putin noted that the coordination of foreign policy efforts by Russia and China has played a “stabilizing role in global affairs.” Xi emphasized the importance of a “strategic cooperation” between Moscow and Beijing in defending their common interests on the global stage.
