Putin commits to China visit in first major trip since arrest warrant

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to make a trip to China this fall in what will be his first trip outside of Russian or allied territory since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Putin’s regime is preparing for him to appear at China’s Belt and Road Forum in October, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. He has remained primarily within Russia or countries formerly held by the Soviet Union since the court issued its warrant in March, though he has also visited Iran.

The Russian leader has missed a number of notable international events in the months since the warrant was issued, including last week’s BRICS summit in South Africa, a meeting of the China-Russia-led economic bloc.

Putin’s trip to China will come months after Chinese President Xi Jinping made his own visit to Moscow in March. The two countries have declared themselves friends, and China has refused Western calls to urge Putin to end his war in Ukraine.

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Putin has had an eventful few months since his last meeting with Xi, including suppressing a rebellion from the Wagner mercenary group earlier this summer. The Wagner group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died mysteriously in a plane crash last week after being exiled to Belarus.

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U.S. officials say Putin likely ordered Prigozhin’s assassination despite publicly repairing ties with him.

During Xi’s March visit to Moscow, the two leaders declared their countries to have a “friendship without limits.” The countries remain aligned in pushing back against Western leadership across the globe.

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An explosive new report Meta released Tuesday exposed covert misinformation operations from China and Russia targeting the United States, as well as specific organizations like The Washington Post and NATO.

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, reported that the campaigns were designed to portray China’s human rights record in a positive light and twist the perception of Russia’s war in Ukraine as a Ukrainian attack on democracy.

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