Hello from London,

Two stories of global significance are jostling for attention. I’m gripped, first, by the latest chapter in the geopolitical saga that is about to unfold in Moscow. A three-day state visit by Xi Jinping to Russia, in which he will show solidarity with his fellow autocrat Vladimir Putin, is one of those moments when you can almost see great-power politics shifting. Our analysis explains what this visit signifies for China and Russia—and America.

One thing is clear: in the year or so since Mr Putin visited China in the run-up to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has grown weaker and more dependent on its bigger Asian neighbour. Not only is Russia suffering directly (incurring immensely high casualties in Ukraine, for example), it has become ever-more isolated diplomatically than before. As Alexander Gabuev writes in a guest essay this weekend, Russia is on the path to becoming a vassal state, cut off from Europe and America, and there to do China’s bidding