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Russia's Putin to make first foreign trips since launching Ukraine war

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Vladimir Putin, Russian President, attends a BRICS+ summit meeting via a video link from Moscow, Russia on 24 June 2022

Vladimir Putin will travel to two small central Asian former Soviet countries this week, Russian state TV reported on Sunday (26 June). This would be Putin's first foreign trip since the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's 24 February invasion has left thousands dead, and displaced millions more. The West has imposed severe financial sanctions on Russia, which Putin claims are necessary to strengthen trade relations with other countries like India, China, and Iran.

Pavel Zarubin (the Kremlin correspondent for the Rossiya 1 government television station) stated that Putin would visit Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and then meet President Joko Widodo in Moscow.

Putin will meet Imomali Rahmon, the Tajik President and a close Russian ally. He is also the longest-serving ruler in a former Soviet country. Zarubin stated that Putin will attend the summit of Caspian countries in Ashgabat. It includes leaders from Kazakhstan, Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

Putin will also visit Grodno, Belarus, on June 30th and July 1, to participate in a forum alongside Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The RIA news agency reported that Valentina Matviyenko (the speaker of Russia’s upper chamber) spoke to Belarusian television on Sunday.

Putin's last known visit outside Russia was a trip to Beijing in February where he and Chinese President Xi Jinping revealed a "no limit" friendship agreement hours before they attended the opening ceremony for the Olympic Winter Games.

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Russia claims it sent troops into Ukraine in February 24th to reduce its neighbor's military capabilities, prevent it being used by West to threaten Russia, root-out nationalists, and defend Russian-speakers living in the eastern regions. The invasion was called an imperial-style land grab by Ukraine.

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