THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 7, 2022 at 17:55 JST
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a plenary session at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, Sept. 7, 2022. (TASS News Agency Host Pool Photo via AP)
MOSCOW--Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet next week at a summit in Uzbekistan, a Russian official said Wednesday.
The two leaders will meet at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, held in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on Sept. 15-16, Russian Ambassador to China Andrei Denisov told reporters.
“Less than 10 days from now another meeting of our leaders will take place at the SCO summit in Samarkand. We are actively preparing for it,” Denisov was quoted by Russia’s state news agency Tass as saying.
Putin and Xi last met in Beijing in February, weeks before the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine. The two presidents oversaw the signing of an agreement pledging that relations between the sides would have “no limits.” It remains unclear whether Xi knew at the time of Russia’s plan to launch what Moscow is calling “a special military operation” in Ukraine.
While offering its tacit support for Russia’s campaign in Ukraine, China has sought to appear neutral and avoid possible repercussions from supporting the Russian economy amid international sanctions.
Moscow and Beijing have increasingly aligned their foreign policies to oppose liberal democratic forces in Asia, Europe and beyond, making a stand for authoritarian rule with tight borders and little regard for free speech, minority rights or opposition politics.
The Russian military earlier this week announced sweeping military drills in the country’s east that will involve forces from China, another show of increasingly close ties between Moscow and Beijing amid tensions with the West over the military action in Ukraine.
Even though Moscow and Beijing in the past rejected the possibility of forging a military alliance, Putin has said that such a prospect can’t be ruled out. He also has noted that Russia has been sharing highly sensitive military technologies with China that helped significantly bolster its defense capability.
Despite getting a heads-up, China now treads a fine line over Ukraine
March 7, 2022
Russia to hold sweeping joint war games with China, others
August 30, 2022
Kremlin: Xi supports Putin’s pursuit of guarantees from West
December 16, 2021
China’s Russia dealings irk U.S., but don’t breach sanctions
June 1, 2022
Putin attends joint military drills with China, others
September 7, 2022
U.S. official: Russia seeking military aid from China
March 14, 2022
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
