Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
It is really hard to embarrass the Kremlin. They have a tendency to out-brazen and to basically deny everything.
The U.S. strategy has been to try to expose what the Russian government is doing and therefore give the Russians no ability to act as if everything is normal. The problem with that strategy is...the Russians aren't going to be embarrassed.
And, not to mention, sanctions which are not so significant for Russians right now. In a case of switching off, it could be painful for the everyday life of Russians.
One of the things that Europe and the United States need to do is to continue to work together, to be on the same page, to deliver a united message to Russia that we will not negotiate the fundamental principles of the European security order.
For historic reasons, Russia has been more tied to Europe but then over the course of the last two decades Russia started to look at the East and diversify away from Europe to China with the goal of having a more balanced trade structure.
The meeting was quite significant but it wasn't a crossing of a threshold. The meeting was really a natural evolution of where the China-Russia relationship has been going in the last decade, but especially since 2014 and especially because of the Putin-Xi relationship
... both the Russians and the Chinese don't fear Iran with a nuclear weapon as much as the United States does and values Iran as a potentially important commercial energy partner.
When was the last time any world leader kept the entire media establishment on a global scale and the international community on the edge of their collective seats for now almost a month.
Most of these countries in the (Middle East) region, most of the leaders have seen a good many American presidents come and go.