President of Russia, Vladimir Putin will travel to two small former Soviet States in Asia this week, according to Russia state television. The visit would be Putin’s first known trip abroad since he launched the invasion of Ukraine.
The invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more, and led to severe financial sanctions from the West, a move which Putin has considered a cue to build stronger trade ties with other world powers like China, India, and Iran.
Correspondence from the Rossiya 1 state television station said Putin would travel to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan and then pay a visit to Indonesian President Joko Widodo for talks in Moscow.
Putin will meet in Dushanbe, Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon, a close Russian ally and the longest-serving ruler of a former Soviet state. He will attend a summit of Caspian nations in Ashgabat where leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Turkmenistan would be in attendance.
The Russian leader also plans to visit the Belarus city of Grodno on June 30 and July 1 to partake in a forum with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the Russian upper chamber of parliament disclosed on Sunday.
