Vladimir Putin will visit China on Thursday and Friday, marking the Russian leader’s first foreign trip since he was sworn in for a fifth presidential term last week.
The Kremlin said Putin and Xi would “discuss the whole range of issues in detail in their all-encompassing partnership and strategic relationship, define the key directions of the further development of Russia-China practical partnership, and hold a thorough exchange of views on the most pressing international and regional problems”.
Beijing has thrown Moscow a vital economic lifeline by helping temper the damage from western sanctions over the war that have cut Russia out of international markets and supply chains.
The US is increasingly concerned about China’s role in helping Russia gear up its war machine and has warned Beijing that Chinese companies could face secondary sanctions for supplying Moscow’s defence industry.
Putin underscored the importance of the arms sector, which officials say is working around the clock in multiple shifts to raise production, by appointing technocrat Andrei Belousov as defence minister on Sunday and cracking down on corruption within the army.
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