Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at who has leverage in the China-Russia relationship, India courting the Nordic region, and Ebola’s rising death toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
An Unbalanced Partnership
Just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted U.S. President Donald Trump, Beijing welcomed another world leader. Russian President Vladimir Putin—long dubbed an “old friend” of Xi’s—arrived in China late Tuesday for a two-day summit coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship. The trip, Putin’s 25th visit to China as president, aims to reaffirm the two sides’ “core interests” amid a fractured geopolitical climate.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at who has leverage in the China-Russia relationship, India courting the Nordic region, and Ebola’s rising death toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
An Unbalanced Partnership
Just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted U.S. President Donald Trump, Beijing welcomed another world leader. Russian President Vladimir Putin—long dubbed an “old friend” of Xi’s—arrived in China late Tuesday for a two-day summit coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship. The trip, Putin’s 25th visit to China as president, aims to reaffirm the two sides’ “core interests” amid a fractured geopolitical climate.
“We will continue to work hand in hand and spare no effort to deepen the Russia-China partnership and good-neighborly friendship,” Putin said on Tuesday ahead of the meeting, adding that bilateral ties were at a “truly unprecedented level.”
However, Russia’s growing economic troubles—from its war in Ukraine to the fallout of conflict in the Middle East—have transformed what the Kremlin considers to be an equal partnership into a more lopsided affair, as Moscow becomes increasingly dependent on Beijing.
Beijing is the largest buyer of Russian crude. Despite Western sanctions, China has purchased more than $367 billion worth of Russian fossil fuels since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022. Last September, Xi and Putin agreed to build a roughly 1,600-mile pipeline, named Power of Siberia 2, to bolster Russian natural gas exports. That year, Moscow also agreed to supply Beijing with an additional 2.5 million metric tons of oil per year through Kazakhstan.
Several issues concerning the oil and gas sector remain unresolved, such as pricing for Power of Siberia 2. However, Putin is optimistic that this week’s summit could finalize these details, especially as Moscow expects the Iran war to increase Beijing’s demand for Russian crude. During the first quarter of 2026, Russian oil exports to China grew by 35 percent, according to Putin’s presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.
Yet this week, Xi will likely try to toe the line between supporting his old friend and presenting China as a peace mediator.
Beijing maintains that it has never provided lethal weapons to either side of the Russia-Ukraine war. “China has consistently maintained an objective and impartial stance and worked to promote peace talks,” China’s foreign ministry told Reuters on Tuesday. However, according to three European intelligence agencies, China’s military secretly trained around 200 Russian troops in China late last year, some of whom have since returned to fight in Ukraine. These covert sessions reportedly focused on the use of drones and electronic warfare, two vital strategies that have proven to be detrimental to Ukraine’s forces.
It is unclear to what extent China has backed Russia’s offensive against Ukraine. Just days before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Putin and Xi announced a “no limits” strategic partnership. Since then, Beijing has ignored demands from the West to halt all sales of high-tech components to Moscow’s weapons industries.
But Beijing’s patience with the Kremlin may be fraying. The Financial Timesreported on Monday that Xi had told Trump last week that Putin might come to “regret” invading Ukraine, though the U.S. president on Tuesday denied hearing that.
Today’s Most Read
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What We’re Following
India-Nordic ties. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi courted the leaders of five Nordic countries on Tuesday during a summit in Oslo, Norway. Global security concerns, climate change, and trade opportunities took up the bulk of the agenda, as Modi pushed for greater Indian exports of pharmaceuticals in exchange for Nordic exports of renewable energy, among other key goods. Bilateral trade between India and its Nordic partners (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) reached $19 billion in 2024.
Tuesday was the third iteration of the India-Nordic summit. It came just months after New Delhi signed a free trade agreement with the European Union and a year after India inked economic partnerships with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Experts argue that India’s shift toward Europe is a direct response to the Trump administration’s growing trade unreliability.
While Modi praised Tuesday’s conversations as “productive” and “very fruitful,” some Nordic leaders expressed concerns over India’s human rights record, particularly its treatment of Muslims. “It is not only about press freedom but also about the rights of minorities who are under severe pressure,” Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten told local media ahead of the meeting. “The concern is to what extent India remains an inclusive society where the same rights apply to everyone.”
The spread of Ebola. At least 26 more suspected Ebola deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were recorded within the past 24 hours, health authorities said on Tuesday. That brings the total number of fatalities associated with the rare Bundibugyo strain to 131, though the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Sunday that the outbreak was potentially much larger than what was currently being detected.
“I’m deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told members of the World Health Assembly on Tuesday. Tedros declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency over the weekend, citing concerns that the disease could spread. This is Congo’s 17th outbreak of Ebola, but unlike past incidents, which were caused by the Ebola Zaire strain, the Bundibugyo variant has no approved vaccines.
Several neighboring countries, including Uganda and Rwanda, have restricted movement across their borders to prevent further spread. However, at least two confirmed cases, including one death, have already been recorded in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people or animals; the Bundibugyo variant has an estimated fatality rate of between 25 and 40 percent.
Burgeoning friendship. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung hosted Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday to reaffirm their “deepening friendship and trust.” Although Seoul and Tokyo are both close U.S. allies and share similar concerns regarding China, they have historically clashed over disputes linked to Japan’s 35-year colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula.
Lee and Takaichi, though, are hoping to change the tide. “The fact that such meaningful and historic exchanges took place in the span of just four months speaks to the depth and strength of the friendship and bonds that Korea and Japan now share,” Lee said during a joint news conference with Takaichi. Tuesday’s summit in the city of Andong, Lee’s hometown, was their fourth such meeting.
Both leaders are seen as pragmatic politicians who recognize the threat of China’s expansionist ambitions and the United States’ sweeping tariffs. “In particular, we agreed that close bilateral cooperation is needed more than ever amid the instability in supply chains and energy markets arising from the recent situation in the Middle East,” Lee said on Tuesday. To address this, Lee and Takaichi agreed to expand cooperation on crude and liquified natural gas supplies.
Odds and Ends
Enjoying a lie-flat bed while flying is no longer a luxury limited to first class. Starting Monday, Air New Zealand is offering Skynest sleep pods for economy passengers traveling from Auckland, New Zealand, to New York City, one of the world’s longest commercial flights. Starting from an additional $291, fliers can pre-book a four-hour spot in a curtained (albeit, narrow) triple-tier bunk. But the upgrade comes with conditions: Passengers cannot wear strong perfumes, share a cot with others, play music, or snack in the beds—and they must don specially provided socks to enter the pod.
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