...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met Tuesday against a backdrop of mounting tensions over North Korea ahead of G20 summit talks with US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States...
The sit-down in Moscow is meant to focus on bolstering trade ties between the two partners, with deals worth billions of dollars expected to be signed.
But the talks were also expected to discuss North Korea after Pyongyang claimed the launch of its first inter-continental ballistic missile, and Trump urged China to "end this nonsense once and for all".
"Economic questions are always at the centre of our attention but we are also engaged in coordinating our efforts on the international arena," Putin told Xi at the start of the talks.
It is their third official meeting this year.
Xi in turn praised the "special character" of China's ties with Russia, He called the two nations "good neighbours, faithful friends and reliable partners" in comments translated into Russian.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported earlier that Putin and Xi "agreed to jointly push for a proper settlement of the peninsula issue via dialogue and negotiation" at a closed Kremlin meeting Monday evening on the eve of the official talks.
Beijing -- North Korea's closest diplomatic ally -- and Moscow have called repeatedly for calm on all sides, but Trump has warned Washington's patience with Pyongyang is nearing an end.
Xi and Putin once again slammed the US THAAD missile system installed in South Korea to protect against the North, Xinhua said. Both leaders argue that it threatens the strategic balance in the region.
The Kremlin gave no details on what was discussed at the "informal" tete-a-tete Monday.