China’s Xi Jingping has made it clear that he’s got Russian President Vladimir Putin’s back in the military standoff at the Ukrainian border. The two leaders, who have previously described themselves as “best friends,” met in Beijing on Friday ahead of the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. According to The Guardian, the pair signed a joint statement that effectively tells the West to back off from Ukraine. The agreement as released by the Kremlin said: “The parties [Xi and Putin] oppose the further expansion of NATO, call on the North Atlantic alliance to abandon the ideologised approaches of the Cold War, respect the sovereignty, security, and interests of other countries, the diversity of their civilisational and cultural-historical patterns, and treat the peaceful development of other states objectively and fairly.” NATO allies, including the United States, have bolstered their defenses in Eastern Europe in response to Russia massing around 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border.
