Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin arrived in Beijing on 25 August for a two-day visit aimed at strengthening coordination with Chinese lawmakers and shoring up economic ties in the face of Western sanctions. He is leading a parliamentary delegation that will hold the 10th meeting of the China-Russia committee for parliamentary cooperation at the invitation of Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. Volodin said the agenda would focus on “countering sanctions pressure and external interference,” a reference to U.S. efforts to persuade Beijing to curb imports of Russian crude, as well as on expanding bilateral trade, defending “historical truth” about World War II and stepping up youth and humanitarian exchanges. The trip sets the stage for President Vladimir Putin’s planned four-day visit to China later this month, when he is expected to attend events marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. Both sides have signalled that the back-to-back visits are intended to underscore deepening strategic alignment between Moscow and Beijing amid their widening rift with Washington.