According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin will go to China in October

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, intends to go to China in October, a senior Kremlin official said on Tuesday. Putin’s foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, was reported by Russian news outlets as suggesting that the trip will be planned to coincide with a “One Belt, One Road” meeting in China. Infrastructure projects are part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, which links Asia with Europe and Africa.

Ushakov said that Putin also intends to visit Turkey at some time in order to keep a commitment made to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but the exact dates of that trip have not yet been determined.

In addition, he said, Putin was invited by the Kremlin to attend the September Group of 20 meeting in India. The possibility of Putin being there in person has not been discounted, although Ushakov said that it is still “unclear” how he would participate.

Putin’s trip plans were made public days after South African authorities said he had decided to forego attending an economic conference in that nation next month due to an arrest order the International Criminal Court had issued for him. Putin has been charged by the ICC with taking personal responsibility for the kidnappings of Ukrainian children.

As a party to the agreement that created the international tribunal, South Africa would either be forced to arrest the Russian president if he entered its territory or be forced to abdicate its responsibilities.

Being conspicuously absent from the meeting might be awkward for Putin, who is currently anticipated to be the only head of state from within the BRICS group of emerging nations to do so. Moscow has denied the validity of the warrant and denied the ICC’s authority. Putin may visit there more readily since China, Turkey, and India have not ratified the Rome Statute.

Putin’s trip to China in October would take place seven months after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Moscow. On the fringes of a regional conference in Uzbekistan in September 2022, the two also had a face-to-face encounter. Weeks before he ordered troops into Ukraine, Putin and Xi had a meeting when both were present at the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

While refusing to criticize Moscow’s conduct and announcing last year that it had a “no-limits” relationship with Russia, China has attempted to portray itself as impartial in the Ukraine war. Beijing has criticized Western restrictions imposed on Moscow and charged NATO and the US of inciting Putin to use force.

China has also put out a peace proposal, which was widely rejected by Ukraine’s friends, who claimed that peace could only come about if Moscow withdrew its troops from the neighboring nation.