Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian speaks at the daily media briefing in Beijing on April 8, 2020. This week, Zhao was assigned a new job: deputy director of the ministry's Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs — a lateral move to an obscure post that takes Zhao out of the spotlight. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
In this photo made available by Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, center, talks with Gulf Arab leaders during the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in December. Gulf Arab leaders and others in the Mideast met as part of a state visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. AP hide caption
Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang visits the headquarters of Sany America, a Chinese excavator and construction-equipment manufacturer, in Peachtree City, GA on on May 12. Liu Guanguan/China News Service/Getty Images hide caption
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (right) meet with Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh, Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit 2022 in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AP hide caption
An apartment burns after Russian shelling in Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, on Wednesday. Libkos/AP hide caption
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an event via video on Wednesday. The Kremlin is downplaying the prospect of Ukraine peace talks after President Biden said he would speak to Putin if "he's looking for a way to end the war." Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
The José Antonio Anzoátegui industrial park for crude oil and petrochemicals in Anzoátegui state, Venezuela, on March 17. DPA / Picture Alliance / Getty Images hide caption
Cargo ships loaded with grain in the anchorage area of the southern entrance to the Bosporus Strait in Istanbul on Monday. Ships left Ukrainian ports on Monday despite Russia's decision to pull out from a landmark deal designed to ease a global food crisis. Ozan Kose/AFP / Getty Images hide caption
The 77th session of U.N. General Assembly opened at the United Nations headquarters on Sept. 13 in New York City. The session's high-level debate begins on Tuesday. Liao Pan/China News Service via Getty Images hide caption
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint news conference with Germany's chancellor following their meeting at the Kremlin, in Moscow, on Tuesday. That day the Kremlin said it pulled back some Russian troops but the U.S. and NATO have rejected the claim. Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Russian President Vladimir Putin talks during a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban after their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Tuesday. Yuri Kochetkov/POOL/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A train is ready on the station during the handover ceremony of the high-speed rail project in Vientiane, Laos, connecting the city with Kunming, China, on Dec. 3, 2021. Phoonsab Thevongsa/Reuters hide caption
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and President Biden shake hands during their meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021. Russia, the United States and its NATO allies are meeting this week for negotiations focused on Moscow's demand for Western security guarantees and Western concerns about a recent buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool, AP hide caption
Qin Gang fields questions during a news conference around the Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear program in Beijing in 2005. He served as spokesperson for the Chinese delegation. China Photos/Getty Images hide caption
In this 2011 photo, Joe Biden, then vice president, shakes hands with Vladimir Putin, then Russia's prime minister, in Moscow. President Biden will hold a summit with Putin this week in Geneva, a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders that comes amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Russia. Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP hide caption