Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday that he plans to visit China in May.
It will be Putin’s first visit abroad since the election farce that formally confirmed the Kremlin master’s credentials for another term in office.
“The visit is planned for May,” Putin said at a business forum in Moscow, without giving further details.
Putin’s announcement about the visit comes on a day when US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is in Beijing for tough talks with the Chinese leadership, as Washington tries to ease tensions with China.
The West has been eyeing Russia and China with concern over the past two years, as the two countries strengthen trade and defense ties and seek to increase global influence.
At a time when the West has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, Moscow looks to relations with China as an artery of economic life.
China, on the other hand, benefits from Russia’s cheap energy imports and access to vast natural resources, including constant gas supplies through the “Sila Sibiri” (“Power of Siberia”) pipeline.
