Emboldened Putin stirs up global landscape with Xi

AS President Vladimir Putin signed a new law last week which could keep him in power till 2036 - potentially alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping - Russia's foreign policy is becoming emboldened again. This could have major implications for not just geopolitics, but the global economy.

Take the example of the Ukraine border, where Moscow has built up an estimated force of some 25,000 troops in a major show of power. Former Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Kozak warned last week that Moscow could intervene to help its citizens in eastern Ukraine as tensions rise in the region, which has been a flashpoint since Russian-sympathising separatists seized swathes of territory there in 2014.

The build-up worries the West, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel telephoning Mr Putin on Thursday asking him to roll back Russia's military presence on the Ukraine border. Meanwhile, the US has put its forces in Europe on a higher level of alert last week, with US President Joe Biden reaffirming his support for Ukraine's "sovereignty and territorial integrity".