(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated Thursday that he planned to go to China for an official visit during the month of May, while Westerners are worried about an ever stronger partnership between the two powers.
“The visit is planned for May,” Mr. Putin said during a televised meeting with representatives of Russian employers.
This will be the first visit abroad, since his re-election in March, of Mr. Putin, who has been the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court since March 2023 for the “deportation” of Ukrainian children.
The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, had already gone to China at the beginning of April for an official visit, during which Chinese leader Xi Jinping had promised to strengthen cooperation with Moscow, to the great dismay of Westerners who have been trying for months of putting pressure on Beijing.
Beijing and Moscow have intensified their economic, diplomatic and military cooperation in recent years and their “strategic partnership” has been consolidated since the offensive in Ukraine launched at the end of February 2022.
During Mr. Lavrov’s visit, Xi Jinping also called on Beijing and Moscow to “unite the countries of the Global South”, which notably includes South American and African nations, as well as to “promote reform of the governance system world”, the two countries denouncing Western hegemony.
The United States and other Western countries regularly warn China against indirectly aiding the Russian war effort and urge it to use its influence over Russia to end the conflict in Ukraine.