The Latest Breaking News from Xi Jinping

WASHINGTON — It seemed to be a scary example of bellicose warmongering foreshadowing a catastrophic escalation. But Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement this week that he was abandoning the last major nuclear arms control treaty may have been more symbolic than a threat of concrete action.

A career banker and head of a state-run financial conglomerate, Zhu Hexin, is likely to become governor of China's central bank after next month's annual session of parliament, according to people familiar with the matter.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi held talks with President Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian officials in Moscow this week amid speculation that the two sides would discuss a Chinese plan to bring about peace in Ukraine after almost a year of war.

What happened in the week the Ukraine war reached a second year?

China's effort to cast itself as a peacemaker on Ukraine reflects an aim to burnish its image rather than a change of stance, Western diplomats and analysts said, as it seeks to establish itself as a leader of a new multipolar world order.

The war brings Beijing not only losses but gains — greater internationalization of the renminbi, cheaper energy, and a reduction of the U.S. focus on the Indo-Pacific.

As Chinese authorities are pushing out foreign journalists, many of them have relocated to Taiwan.

The answer may lie in the differing personalities of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, say analysts.

Putin says relations between the two countries have reached ‘new frontiers’, confirming a summit with Xi Jinping.

Chinese state media say at least two people have died and more than 50 are missing following a collapse at an open pit mine in the country's northern Inner Mongolia region

Despite the decision to suspend participation, Russia says it will still abide by the New START arms reduction treaty.