Chinese state-sponsored groups including Mustang Panda and Tonto Team have been targeting Russian aerospace and defense firms looking for intelligence on Moscow's military capabilities, researchers at the Taiwanese cybersecurity firm TeamT5 told POLITICO.

Russia's exit from Syria will disrupt supplies to its forces in Africa. But as Moscow's fortunes in the resource-rich Continent wane, Beijing's are rising

The two leaders have developed strong personal ties that helped boost relations between Moscow and Beijing, growing even closer after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday that Moscow and Beijing's foreign policy ties played a stabilising role in international affairs.

The U.S. “will have to out-think” Russia and China to prevent them from using nuclear weapons to resolve a future crisis, the outgoing head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said last week.

China's largest airline, China Southern Airlines, has suspended flights from Beijing to Moscow at the end of January, a surprise move that comes just ahead of the Chinese New Year. Newsweek reached out to China Southern Airlines and the Russian Foreign Ministry with an emailed request for comment outside of office hours.

In December, Russia reportedly sold its stakes in certain Kazakh uranium deposits to Chinese-owned companies. This involved Kazakhstan's nuclear resources company, Kazatomprom, and Russia's Rosatom transferring interests to Chinese entities, National Security News reported.

"This time it's different" is a well-worn cliché that seems to be getting another whirl with the latest U.S. sanctions against Russia's crude oil exports.

Russian exports of coal and steel to China dropped in 2024 amid shifting global trade dynamics and Moscow’s increasing isolation from Western markets. China has become a key economic partner for Russia since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine set off a barrage of Western sanctions.

The US President has previously called for tariffs as high as 60% on China, and analysts have expressed mixed feelings about the news.

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