Xi-Putin to meet in Uzbekistan next week: Report

Beijing [China], September 7 (ANI): Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on the sidelines of a summit in Uzbekistan next week, CNN reported citing Russian media.
The expected meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit would be the first face-to-face between the two leaders.
Notably, it would also be the first overseas trip for Xi since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday, a top Chinese leader Li Zhanshu became the highest ranking official to leave China when he arrived in Vladivostok to attend the Eastern Economic Forum.
Russia and China have emerged as closer partners in recent years as both face tensions with the West. The latest telephonic exchange between the Chinese President and the Russian President on June 15 highlights the growing ties between the two countries in the wake up of the Ukraine conflict.
By calling up Putin and assuring him of further development of economic, military, and defense ties between the two countries at a time when the Russian presence in Ukraine is not showing any sign of ending, Xi has not only totally ignored the Western warnings but he has also put to rest speculations that the image of China moving too close to Russia has been causing concern in Beijing.
The SCO summit will be held from September 15 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The organization is compromised of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as per CNN. (ANI)