BBC:
Monday’s meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi marked a rare display of solidarity – and an opportunity for Putin to engage directly with his country’s top oil buyers.
India and China were drawn to Russian oil, which became cheaper after Western countries cut trade ties with Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
But Beijing, New Delhi and Moscow have taken their ties deeper.
They now share a common antagonist in the US, which has imposed sanctions on Russia and put sweeping tariffs on its trading partners.
India is reeling from some of the highest duties imposed by Washington for buying oil from Russia. China is still negotiating a deal with the US that would stave off crippling tariffs and possible sanctions for buying Russian crude.
The three leaders met at Tianjin for the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) summit. The regional forum aims to promotes an alternative worldview from the West’s – in what analysts have described as a challenge to America’s influence.
The forum gives the leaders a rare chance reinforce ties during ongoing economic uncertainty, analysts told the BBC.
