Description: The highly choreographed Victory Day parade in Moscow was shadowed by the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two exchanged pleasantries and discussed solidifying their longstanding strategic partnership for over four hours. Putin and Xi gave brief statements to the press and signaled an even stronger unified front against what they called the hegemonistic and counterproductive western foreign policy practices. The presidents met for over 40 times in the past decade reiterating bilateral bolstering of ties with China strongly fueling the Russian economy following sanctions from the western countries over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Xi and Putin also emphasized their outlooks on the novel geopolitical dynamics, highlighting the creation of a new and multipolar world where unilateralism and conservatism would represent relics of the past.
Impact: Moscow’s Victory Day parade effectively represented a large summit of leaders from countries aligning themselves under the Russo – Chinese umbrella of geopolitical outlooks. Xi and Putin practically sent a collective message mostly directed to the US, that despite the entire public ploy integrated within the US diplomatic efforts to outmaneuver Russia and China, their alliance remains firm and unphased by disruptions. The meeting also indicated disguised receptiveness by both leaders towards aspiring countries that aimed towards reconfiguring their geopolitical aspirations, as both Russia and China lead heavily invested global campaigns of influence in the midst of the US withdrawal from international affairs. Both countries face pressure from the US encompassed in the tariff war projected to debilitate China’s expanding economy and the crippled peace initiative aimed at ending the Russia – Ukraine war. Ultimately, the parade and the meeting could be perceived as a show of unity, force and geopolitical initiative in enlarging the strategic portfolios of both global powers.