Putin failed to attend last year’s summit held in South Africa over fears of arrest. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the Russian leader over his war in Ukraine, which has greatly limited his ability to visit foreign nations. This week’s summit provides an opportunity for Putin to be seen hosting his international counterparts, shaking hands and making deals as a powerful international leader despite the weight of sanctions and global isolation over his invasion and ongoing war in Ukraine.

The summit also marks the third time this year that Putin has met in-person with Xi, as their two countries have grown closer amid their increasing isolation from democratic nations.

The pair met on the sidelines of the summit on Tuesday, and Putin called Xi a “dear friend” during a joint press conference. He also described their countries’ relations as an example of what others should strive to achieve.

“We can assert with complete confidence that these relations have become a paradigm of how inter-state relations should be constructed in the modern world,” Putin said. “Our multifaceted cooperation is characterized by equality, mutual benefit and an absolutely non-conformist nature.”

Putin boasted that their cooperation on global issues “is one of the main stabilizing factors in the international arena” and that they intend to further expand coordination “to ensure global security and promote a fairer world order.”

Xi added that China-Russia relations have “withstood the test of a changing international situation.” He also complimented himself and Putin for doing so.

“We have taken the right path of building relations between great powers on the principles of non-alignment, non-confrontation, and non-direction against third parties,” he said.

“Mr. president, in this new era, you and I always pay greater attention to bilateral relations and monitor them personally.”

Neither the United States nor the democratic pressure being applied to the two authoritarian nations to adhere to international norms was mentioned by either Putin or Xi, but the Chinese leader acknowledged that they were facing an unprecedented “tectonic transformation” of the international situation.

“However, this cannot shake my conviction that the strategic choice of the two countries in favor of firm mutual support, the deep centuries-old friendship between our countries, and China and Russia’s sense of duty as great powers are inviolable,” he said.

Xi also celebrated BRICS as being “one of the most important platforms to consolidate the broad developing world and emerging market countries.”

The meeting is the third by the two leaders, but the first since July when they met on the sidelines of an Eurasian intergovernmental security summit. Their first meeting this year was in May when Xi hosted Putin to a state visit.