Blinken calls Xi-Putin relationship a "convenient marriage" while Xi wraps up Russia trip with message to the West.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has dismissed the deepening ties between China and Russia as a "marriage of convenience" and expressed doubt that it is based on conviction. Blinken noted that China is hoping to replace the US-led international order with its own "illiberal" vision, while Russia does not appear to have a coherent ideology apart from "world disorder". Blinken also said that Russia is "very much the junior partner" in the relationship and that China had so far declined to provide weapons to Moscow for its war in Ukraine.