Vladimir Putin arrived in China

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on October 17 for a two-day visit, where he will take part in the III International Forum “One Belt – One Road”, hold negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and bilateral meetings with the President of Vietnam, the Prime Minister of Thailand, the President of Mongolia and the President Laos. Leaders of 23 states will come to the forum in Beijing. The theme of the current forum will be “High-quality cooperation within the framework of the One Belt, One Road”.

Putin arrived at Beijing Capital Airport. On this day, the President will have a conversation with Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong, then a meeting with Prime Minister of Thailand Settha Thaweesin.

After this, the president will come to the ceremony of the official meeting of Chinese President Xi Jinping with the heads of delegations who will arrive at the “One Belt, One Road” forum. The meeting and the forum itself will be held at the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square. This is where Chinese Communist Party (CCP) meetings and other official events usually take place. After this, Putin will hold two more bilateral meetings with the President of Mongolia, Ukhnagiin Khurelsukh, and the President of Laos, Thongloun Sisoulith.

The next day, October 18, Putin will take part in the “One Belt, One Road” forum itself, including in the opening ceremony of the forum. Putin will speak at the forum as the main guest, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on October 16. He will speak immediately after Xi Jinping’s welcoming speech.

Then Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will hold Russian-Chinese negotiations in a narrow and expanded format, and a one-on-one conversation is not excluded, Ushakov said. The Russian delegation includes Deputy Prime Ministers Alexander Novak and Dmitry Chernyshenko, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev, Chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina, Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugaev, General Director Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov and others. Also in Beijing will be the chairman of the board of Sber, German Gref, head VTB Andrey Kostin, Chairman of the Board “Novateka” Leonid Mikhelson, General Director of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev, Chief Executive Officer of Rosneft Igor Sechin, owner of Volga Group Gennady Timchenko, Chairman VEB.RF Igor Shuvalov. Moreover, the delegation included representatives of the presidential administration – presidential assistants Yuri Ushakov and Maxim Oreshkin, and presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov. Following the visit, Vladimir Putin is expected to hold a press conference in Beijing.

Vladimir Putin will attend the “One Belt, One Road” forum for the third time. The current visit, in fact, was a response to Xi Jinping’s official visit to Russia, which took place on March 20-22, 2023. It was then that Chairman Xi invited Putin to China.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin flew to China on May 22-24, where he took part in the Russian-Chinese business forum in Shanghai and held talks with Xi Jinping. A month ago, Foreign Minister Wang Yi came to Russia, and Vladimir Putin also met with him in St. Petersburg.

The “One Belt, One Road” forum will be held for the third time in 2023. The forum is attended by countries that have joined the Chinese initiative of the same name. The first “One Belt – One Road” forum took place on May 14-15, 2017 in Beijing, the second – there on April 25-27, 2019. The very concept of “One Belt – One Road” was presented by Xi Jinping in 2013.