The handshakes were warm, smiles beaming, as Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Tuesday. As the two strongmen greeted flag-waving schoolchildren from a red carpet, the People’s Liberation Army band played the Soviet-era ditty Moscow Nights, whose waltzing lilt stood in stark contrast to the mayhem sown by Russia’s latest offensive in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, which has forced almost 8,000 people from their homes. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Officially, Putin’s trip is to mark 75 years since the Soviet Union recognized the People’s Republic of China, with a gala to mark the occasion, though his war of choice casts a long shadow.