Xi will be the first world leader to shake Putin's hand since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader on Friday over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since the start of the war.
Russia will present Xi's trip - his first since securing an unprecedented third term this month - as evidence that it has a powerful friend prepared to stand with it against a hostile West that it says is trying in vain to isolate and defeat it.
Neither Moscow nor Beijing are members of the ICC, whose action the Kremlin said was outrageous but legally void. But by making Putin a wanted man in 123 countries virtually on the eve of Xi's trip, the court has shone an awkward spotlight on a meeting that was already delicate for the Chinese leader.
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