The Kremlin is preparing Putin’s trip to the forum in China – Kommersant

The Kremlin is preparing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China to participate in the Belt and Road Forum, which will be held in October this year. Bloomberg with reference to the words of three sources. This visit should be the first foreign trip of the Russian president since March of this year, when the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued a warrant for his arrest.

Vladimir Putin has already officially accepted the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping to participate in the forum, and the Kremlin informed the Chinese side about this, according to one Bloomberg source. According to the interlocutor of the agency, Mr. Putin is ready to visit only those countries where his safety will be fully guaranteed under the conditions of the ICC warrant and China is one of such states (while earlier Vladimir Putin refused to travel to South Africa and India to the BRICS and G20 summits) . Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov and the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.

In March, Xi Jinping visited Russia, the first foreign visit since his re-election for a third term and since China lifted restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Previously, information about the preparation of Vladimir Putin to participate in the Chinese October forum “One Belt, One Road” confirmed in the Kremlin and the Federation Council, however stressedthat the format of the presence of the head of state at the event has not yet been determined.

Alexander Kislov