Putin China Trip Schedule 'Being Discussed' As Turkey Visit Shelved

The Kremlin, commenting on reportsof President Vladimir Putin visiting China in October, states that the 'schedule for bilateral Russo-Chinese contacts is being discussed' and that 'we will inform on concrete events and dates in due course.' Putin's visit as part of the Belt and Road Forum would be the Russian leader's first overseas visit since the issuing of an international arrest warrant against him by the ICC.

• Putin had been linked with a visit to Turkey in the near future, in what would have been his first trip to a NATO member state since the invasion of Ukraine. However, Bloomberg now reporting that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will instead visit Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
• Putin's reluctance to travel made clear at the weekend as he informed Indian PM Narendra Modi that he would not be travelling to New Delhi in person for the 9-10 Sep G20 summit. Instead he will again send Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in his stead, as he did at the BRICS summit.
• Putin's willingness to travel to China but not other allied or non-aligned states highlights the increasingly close relations between Moscow and Beijing, as well as Putin's reluctance to face criticism from other world leaders that could have come as the G20 or BRICS.