Xi and Putin to meet this week amid Ukraine war

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Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will meet this week to discuss the ongoing Ukraine war. Both the Russian and Chinese leaders will talk about “international and regional topics”. The meeting is reportedly an “alternative” to the West. The duo will meet in Uzbekistan.

This meeting is going to be Xi Jinping’s first international trip after the pandemic. The Chinese leader wants to get hold of the third term as well. On the other side, Russia’s relations with the West are getting worse at an alarming rate. This appears to be a complicated situation.

Kazakhstan is the starting point for Xi Jinping. The leader will also begin the three-day trip on Wednesday. His meeting with Mr. Putin is on Thursday. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit is the meeting point for both leaders. The dates are 15th and 16th September.

Yuri Ushakov is the spokesman for Kremlin Foreign Policy. He said that Mr. Putin is going to meet other international leaders as well. But his meeting with Xi Jinping is of utmost value. This is because of the ongoing Ukraine war. The summit comes with major political changes as well, he said.

SCO came to life in 2001. Both Russia and China see SCO as the guiding light and an alternative to the West. This time Russia may be looking for some kind of support from China. This speculation arises because of the long duration of the war and key advances by Ukraine.

Jinping and Putin met during the Winter Olympics in February. This is their second meeting in 2022. The leaders came out with a joint statement after the Olympic meeting. They said that their friendship comes with “no limits”. The war started a few days later.

The meeting is going to be on everyone’s minds. We have to wait and watch for the consequences ahead. The statements that they will give after the meeting will also give an insight into the meeting.

Credits: BBC

Ishita Paul