Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit China in October, Kremlin says

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit China in October, a top Kremlin official said on Tuesday.

Russian news agencies cited Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov as timing the trip to coincide with the One Belt, One Road forum in China. Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative includes infrastructure projects to connect Asia with European and African countries.

Usakov said Putin also plans to travel to Turkey at some point to fulfill a promise to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, although the dates for that visit have yet to be decided.

In addition, Kremin received an invitation for Putin to attend a Group of 20 summit in India in September, he said. The presence of the Russian leader in person has not been ruled out, although the form of Putin’s participation is still unclear, Usakov said.

The announcement of Putin’s travel plans came days after South African officials said he had agreed to skip an economic summit in their country next month because of an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court. The ICC accused Putin of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.

As a signatory to the treaty that established the international court, South Africa would either be obliged to arrest the Russian leader if he ever set foot there or put himself in a position to defy its responsibilities.

Pulling out of the summit could be seen as embarrassing for Putin, who is now expected to be the only leader of a country in the BRICS bloc of developing economies not to attend. Moscow rejected the warrant and said it does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction.

China, Turkey and India are not signatories to the Rome Statute, so Putin can travel to these countries more easily.

An October visit would bring Putin to China seven months after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow for a three-day visit. The two also met in person in September 2022 on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan. Before that, Putin met with Xi while attending the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, weeks before sending troops to Ukraine.

China has sought to cast itself as neutral in the Ukraine conflict, even as it has refused to condemn Moscow’s actions and said last year it had a friendship without limits with Russia. Beijing has denounced Western sanctions against Moscow and accused NATO and the United States of provoking Putin’s military action.

China has also proposed a peace plan that has been largely rejected by Ukraine’s allies, who have insisted that Moscow must withdraw its forces from the neighboring country as a condition for peace.