President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping, the leader of China, issued a joint rebuke to Washington on Thursday, a day before celebrations in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
The leaders held talks at the Kremlin, part of a state visit that Moscow organized for Mr. Xi before his attendance alongside other foreign leaders on Friday at a military parade in Red Square.
In a joint statement issued after their talks, Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi rejected what they described as Washington’s attempt to subject them to “dual containment.” They vowed to “increase interaction and strengthen cooperation” to counter such U.S. efforts.
Both Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi are grappling with the unpredictability of President Trump — the Russian president in talks over Ukraine, and the Chinese leader in a bruising trade war. Each has sought to present their countries as alternative world powers looking to bring about what they call a more equal, multipolar world in the face of U.S. hegemony.
Part of their message Thursday seemed to be that they would stand together, even as Mr. Trump embraces Mr. Putin but pressures Mr. Xi.
After the talks, Mr. Xi spoke pointedly of the importance of the two leaders remaining trusting friends.
The Russian and Chinese leaders also jointly called Mr. Trump’s plans for a “Golden Dome” missile defense shield over the United States “deeply destabilizing,” arguing in their joint statement that such new U.S. defenses would weaponize space.
Mr. Trump has employed some of the same nationalist grievance politics and disinformation strategies that Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi have used to cement their power at home, but has failed to reach a deal with either leader since returning to the White House.
Talks with Moscow over the war in Ukraine are continuing but have not curbed the fighting there. U.S. officials are set to begin trade negotiations in Switzerland this week with their Chinese counterparts, as the trade war threatens economic growth.
In Moscow, the summit took place as Mr. Putin began welcoming what the Kremlin expects to be more than 25 world leaders to the Red Square celebrations. The guests include a veritable “Who’s Who” of authoritarians, with the presidents of Venezuela, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea and Belarus expected to attend.
But none of the leaders is more important to Moscow than Mr. Xi.
Russia’s isolation from the West over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine has dramatically increased Moscow’s dependence on Beijing. China has supported Mr. Putin’s war effort by buying Russian oil, supplying dual-use components for Russian equipment and replacing departed Western brands with Chinese consumer goods. Beijing, however, has stopped short of overt military intervention or support.
Mr. Xi, in his opening remarks at the Kremlin, described relations between China and Russia today as “more calm, confident, stable and resilient.”
He cast the two leaders as defenders of a fair and just world order. And he evoked their countries’ sacrifices during World War II as a symbol of their strength today to push back against “unilateralism and bullying by powerful countries,” an unmistakable reference to the United States and its trade war against China.
Mr. Putin described Moscow’s close ties with Beijing as a “stabilizing factor in the international arena,” despite what he called a difficult geopolitical situation. He also said nearly all trade between Russia and China had migrated to rubles and yuan, as opposed to dollars, protecting the nations “from the influence of third countries.”
The two leaders usually sign a raft of bilateral agreements during their one-on-one summits, and Thursday was no exception.
During the visit, the Russian and Chinese space agencies signed a joint memo on the construction of a power plant on the moon, according to the Russian state news agency Tass. The nations will require a power source for a permanent lunar research base they are seeking to build and have said they want to construct an automated nuclear reactor.
The Soviet Union lost some 27 million people during World War II, making the memory of the conflict one of the most powerful and emotional forces in Russian life.
Mr. Putin has manipulated that memory to energize his troops, falsely accusing President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who is Jewish, of reviving Nazism. Russian forces fighting in Ukraine have been told they must make sacrifices like their forebears did during World War II to once again rid the world of a fascist threat.
At the outset of the talks, Mr. Putin said that Russia and China “oppose modern manifestations of neo-Nazism and militarism,” a clear reference by the Russian leader to his crusade against Ukraine.
Moscow’s commemoration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany comes more than three years after Mr. Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine and reordered Russian society with a level of repression, militarism and control over official narratives unseen since the days of the Soviet Union.
Zixu Wang contributed research from Hong Kong.
Paul Sonne is an international correspondent, focusing on Russia and the varied impacts of President Vladimir V. Putin’s domestic and foreign policies, with a focus on the war against Ukraine.
David Pierson covers Chinese foreign policy and China’s economic and cultural engagement with the world. He has been a journalist for more than two decades.
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