Russia summits are on the cards for Xi Jinping in July

Moscow preparing to go ahead with meetings of BRICS emerging economies and SCO security bloc in St Petersburg as planned

It would be the Chinese president’s first overseas trip since the coronavirus hit and could be a boost for the alliance amid growing backlash over pandemic

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Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have a close personal relationship and have met more than 30 times since 2013. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:00pm, 20 May 2020Updated: 1:05am, 21 May 2020

Russia could be the destination for President Xi Jinping’s first overseas trip since the coronavirus hit, with plans for two regional summits still on track, providing a boost to the alliance as Beijing faces a growing backlash over the pandemic.

Russian ambassador to China Andrey Denisov confirmed the schedule and said there had also been discussions about President Vladimir Putin visiting China in September, though no date had been set.

“We still hope … that later this year, maybe the second half of the year, we’ll have a number of opportunities [for the leaders to visit] each other, both here in China and in Russia,” Denisov said in a video press briefing on Wednesday.

Putin is expected to host a leaders’ summit of the BRICS emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as well as a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security and economic bloc, in St Petersburg in mid-July.

Russian ambassador Andrey Denisov said there had been discussions about Vladimir Putin visiting China in September. Photo: Tom Wang

Moscow has said it was preparing to go ahead with both summits as planned. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week told counterparts from the bloc via video link that “full face-to-face” gatherings were planned for key meetings this year, including the BRICS and SCO summits.