Official says Putin to meet Xi next week amid rising tensions with West

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping plan to meet next week in Uzbekistan, a Russian official says, announcing a summit that could signal another step in warming ties between two powers that are increasingly facing off against the West.

The meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — a political, economic and security forum that China and Russia dominate — comes at delicate times for both leaders.

Putin is dealing with the economic and political fallout of his war in Ukraine that has left Russia more isolated. Xi, meanwhile, is also facing a slowing economy as he seeks a third five-year term as Communist Party leader. While he’s expected to secure it, that would represent a break with precedent. Both have seen their countries’ relations with the West deteriorate.

Russian Ambassador to China Andrei Denisov tells reporters that the two would meet at the organization’s summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on Sept. 15-16. “We are actively preparing for it,” Denisov was quoted by Russia’s state news agency Tass as saying.

The visit to Uzbekistan, if it goes ahead, would be part of Xi’s first foreign trip in 2½ years. Xi has only left mainland China once — to make a one-day visit to the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong — since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in late 2019.