(The Hill) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed his “old friend” Russian President Vladimir Putin to China this week as the two leaders, along with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, are set to attend a massive military parade in Beijing.

Putin called Xi his “dear friend” and argued that the relationship between Russia and China, which has deepened since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, is at an “unprecedentedly high level,” according to The Associated Press (AP).

The agenda, aside from meetings between the world leaders, included their aides huddling at Zhongnanhai, the compound that houses offices for the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.

Both Xi and Putin met a day earlier at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin. There, the two leaders spoke with Indian Prime Minis

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