Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China in May for talks with President Xi Jinping. Putin's visit may be the first foreign trip of the Kremlin leader during his new presidential term, Reuters reports, citing its sources, UNN reports.
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"Putin will visit China," one source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. This information was independently confirmed by four other sources.
Another source said that Putin's trip to China is likely to take place in the second half of May. According to Reuters, Putin's visit will take place before Xi's planned trip to Europe.
Putin's official inauguration as president is scheduled to take place around May 7.
On Sunday, Putin told reporters that Russia and China have similar worldviews, that relations between them are stable in part due to the good personal relationship between Putin and Xi, and that Moscow and Beijing will continue to develop ties in the coming years.
In recent years, China has strengthened its trade and military ties with Russia. The two countries announced an "unrestricted" partnership in February 2022, when Putin visited Beijing days before the full-scale invasion. Xi visited Russia during his first overseas trip since the pandemic last March.
The two leaders have met more than 40 times, most recently in October, when Putin was an "honored guest" at the Belt and Road Summit in Beijing.