Vladimir Putin invited to Xi Jinping's first post-pandemic foreign trip
Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a summit next week.
The meeting marks Xi's first trip out of China since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
Russian news agency TASS said the meeting will be held in Uzbekistan, a central Asian nation in between the two countries.
READ MORE: Russia capable of expanding Ukraine conflict, top general warns
Xi Jinping is going to Uzbekistan to meet Vladimir Putin for his first foreign trip since COVID-19. AP
"There will be plenary sessions and various kinds of group meetings, and we are planning a serious, full-fledged meeting of our leaders with a detailed agenda, which we are now, in fact, working on with our Chinese partners," Russia's China ambassador Andrey Denisov said.
"In general, this summit promises to be interesting, because it will be the first full-fledged summit since the pandemic."
While Russia's invasion of Ukraine has turned Putin into persona non grata in much of the world, China has not turned its back.
READ MORE: Russia to buy rockets, artillery shells from North Korea
Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting with Xi Jinping. AP
Instead, China has become an eager customer of Russian oil, which is now being sold at a heavily discounted price for willing buyers.
The meeting will be held in the city of Samarkand, which marked a central point on the Silk Road, the historic artery between east and west.
It will be held on September 15 and 16.
The summit comes after it was revealed Russia had turned to North Korea to buy munitions to replace weapons lost in the Ukraine invasion.
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