Putin to make first foreign trips since launching Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin will make his first overseas journeys because the begin of the Ukraine struggle.
Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin through REUTERS

Vladimir Putin will go to two small former Soviet states in central Asia this week, Russian state tv reported on Sunday, in what could be the Russian chief’s first recognized journey overseas since ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion has killed hundreds of individuals, displaced thousands and thousands extra and led to extreme monetary sanctions from the West, which Putin says are a purpose to construct stronger commerce ties with different powers equivalent to China, India and Iran.

Pavel Zarubin, the Kremlin correspondent of the Rossiya 1 state tv station, mentioned Putin would go to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan after which meet Indonesian President Joko Widodo for talks in Moscow.

In Dushanbe, Putin will meet Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon, a detailed Russian ally and the longest-serving ruler of a former Soviet state. In Ashgabat, he'll attend a summit of Caspian nations together with the leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkmenistan, Zarubin mentioned.

Putin additionally plans to go to the Belarus metropolis of Grodno on June 30 and July 1 to participate in a discussion board with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, RIA information company citedValentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia’s higher chamber of parliament, as telling Belarus tv on Sunday.

Putin’s final recognized journey outdoors Russia was a go to to the Beijing in early February, the place he and Chinese language President Xi Jinping unveiled a “no limits” friendship treaty hours earlier than each attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Video games.

Russia says it despatched troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 to degrade its neighbor’s army capabilities, hold it from being utilized by the West to threaten Russia, root out nationalists and defend Russian-speakers in jap areas. Ukraine calls the invasion an imperial-style land seize.