Putin to visit China in October
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for talks in Beijing in October, Russia said on Tuesday. Nikolai Patrushev, a close Putin ally and the secretary of Russia's Security Council, said China and Russia should deepen cooperation in the face of the West's attempt to contain them both. He was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that the talks in Beijing would be "thorough", at a meeting in Moscow with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi. Putin will attend the third Belt and Road Forum after an invitation by Xi during a high-profile visit to Moscow in March. The upcoming visit to Beijing will be Putin's first known trip abroad since an arrest warrant was issued against him over the deportation of children from Ukraine. In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Putin's arrest on suspicion of illegally deporting hundreds of children or more from Ukraine. Moscow denies the allegations and the Kremlin said the warrant was evidence of the West's hostility to Russia, which opened a criminal case against the ICC prosecutor and the judges who issued the warrant. Putin last visited Beijing in February 2022, days before the start of the war in Ukraine, where he and Xi announced a "no limits" partnership. Trade between the two countries soared 30 percent in the first half of this year and will rise to more than US$200 billion in 2023, Russian Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said on a visit to China.  "We are actively developing investments, including in our large gas and petrochemical projects, where we actively use Chinese technologies," Reshetnikov said. (Reuters)