Vladimir Putin's last official trip abroad will be at the beginning of February. However, since the attack on Ukraine, the Kremlin chief has been holding out in Russia. However, after several months, the President seems to be preparing for a state visit to two former Soviet republics.
According to state television, Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to travel abroad for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Rossiya 1 reports that he will visit the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan in the new week.
In Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, according to the report, Putin will be received by the respective presidents. He will also meet the heads of state and government of Iran, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan at a mini-summit in Turkmenistan. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev recently refused to recognize the so-called People's Republics in eastern Ukraine at the economic forum in St. Petersburg in the presence of Putin.
Tajikistan is one of Russia's military allies. The ex-Soviet republic is a member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance that also includes Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan has previously held joint military exercises with Russia, which has its own military base in the republic.
Since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, he has not made any publicly known visits abroad. His last known trip abroad was to attend the Winter Olympics in Beijing in early February. There he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The heads of state there proclaimed a partnership "without borders" and sealed oil and gas deals worth billions. At the same time, Chinese companies respect Western sanctions.
