Russia's ambassador to China said Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet face-to-face next week in Uzbekistan, Central Asia.
This will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Russia's ambassador to China, Denisov, and President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan, Central Asia, on the 15th and 16th of this month, Russian state news agency TASS said on the 7th. In line with this, he announced that he would have a face-to-face meeting.
Regarding this, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning declined to confirm at a press conference on the 7th, saying, "There is no information that can be provided."
In connection with this, it was reported on the 5th that a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, a neighboring country of Uzbekistan, announced at a press conference that President Xi plans to make an official visit to Kazakhstan on the 14th of this month.
President Xi has refrained from visiting foreign countries since the outbreak of the new coronavirus a year ago.
The Russian president's office has announced that President Putin will attend the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and if the two leaders meet face-to-face, it will be the first time since it was held in Beijing on February 4 this year. It will be the first since Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine on May 24.