MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with President Xi Jinping in China next week, attend a security summit, and be the “main guest” of Xi’s at a military parade on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Putin will be in China, Russia’s biggest trading partner, from August 31 to September 3, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, saying a four-day trip of its kind was very rare for the Russian leader.
The first two days will be devoted to a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is taking place in the city of Tianjin.
After that, Ushakov said Putin was due to travel to Beijing, where he is expected to hold talks with Xi and attend a military parade on Tiananmen Square on September 3 to mark the end of World War Two after Japan’s formal surrender.
Ushakov said Putin would be attending as “the main guest” and be seated on Xi’s right, while North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un would sit on Xi’s left.
Putin will also hold a string of bilateral meetings with other world leaders present in China at the same time, said Ushakov.
Among them: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
A meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was not yet confirmed but was under discussion, Ushakov said.
The Russian delegation will include several high-ranking officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, Kremlin aide Ushakov, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, and the heads of Russia’s largest banks and companies.
Three documents involving Gazprom are due to be signed in China, Ushakov said, saying he could not disclose further details about the matter.
Russia-China trade, which soared to record levels as the war in Ukraine left Moscow isolated, is now falling, a trend Putin is seeking to reverse, three Russian sources told Reuters ahead of the trip.
(Reporting by Vladimir SoldatkinWriting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Andrew Osborn)
