Russia's alliances: Putin is traveling again - why Tajikistan of all places is the destination
Created: 06/27/2022, 13:16
By: Markus Hofstetter
Vladimir Putin has not left Russia since the start of the Ukraine war.
Now he seems to be leaving for two state visits.
In the countries he can expect little criticism.
Moscow - Russian President Vladimir Putin was last on an official trip abroad in early February.
This led him to China, where he took part in the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing.
The Kremlin chief has not left his country since the start of the Ukraine war.
Coupled with Western sanctions, this gives an impression of isolation.
But Putin, and thus Russia, is not quite so isolated after all.
On Thursday (June 23), the heads of state of the so-called BRICS countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met, albeit only virtually, for their annual summit.
Putin was present at the conference, which Beijing hosted this time. In his speech, he blamed the West for the global economic crisis and gave the BRICS countries a new leadership role.
Incidentally, no criticism of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was heard from the other participants.
Image released by Russia's state news agency Sputnik via AP shows Russian President Vladimir Putin raising a cup while attending the opening ceremony of the BRICS summit via video conference in Moscow.
© Mikhail Metzel/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/dpa
Putin is planning a trip abroad: the destinations are former Soviet republics in Central Asia
Now Vladimir Putin seems to be planning his first trip abroad in four months.
Russian state broadcaster Rossiya 1 reported on Sunday (June 26) that it will visit two former Soviet republics in Central Asia in the new week.
According to the report, he will first travel to Tajikistan and hold talks with President Emomali Rahmon.
Tajikistan is a member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
This military alliance also includes Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
After that, according to the report, Putin wants to travel to Turkmenistan.
There he will not only meet with President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, but also take part in a summit of the countries bordering the Caspian Sea, including Iran, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
That was planned for Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Tass state agency.
Tensions could arise there, however, as Kazakhstan has refused to recognize the People's Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
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Putin plans trip abroad: Kremlin boss personally attends G20 summit
Putin has already added another trip abroad to his calendar.
Host country Indonesia has invited Putin to the 2022 G20 summit in Bali, which is scheduled to take place on November 15-16.
The Kremlin boss has already promised to attend in person.
In addition to the European Union, the G20 includes 19 industrialized and emerging countries, including Russia, China, India, Brazil and Turkey.
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Putin plans a trip abroad: Scholz could meet Putin at the G20 summit
The presence of Putin puts the EU heads of state in a quandary, and a meeting with Putin does not seem advisable.
But so far, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is still open to participation.
It is clear that the group of leading economic nations will continue to play "a major role" and that close cooperation is important, said Scholz on Monday (June 27) in the ZDF morning show.
He will therefore only make the decision about participating in the summit "shortly before departure" and depending on the then current situation.
Scholz also pointed out that host Indonesia had also invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Chancellor emphasized that it was still unclear who would actually take part in the meeting in Bali.
Putin is planning a trip abroad: von der Leyen could sit down at a table with the head of the Kremlin
On Sunday evening (June 26) on ZDF, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen did not rule out sitting down with Putin at the G20 summit.
"It's also important to tell him to his face what we think of him," she said.
You have to think very carefully about crippling the entire G20.
You are not advocating it.
The G20 is far too important a body for that.
Putin and an anti-Western alliance: Greater role of the BRICS countries in the UN sought
The G20 is also important for the European Union because Putin and China want to set up BRICS with its more than three billion people as a counter-bloc to the Western-oriented G7 with its 771 million people.
According to a report by Die
Welt
, Andrei Denisov, Moscow's ambassador in Beijing, proposed replacing the US dollar with another currency as an international means of payment.
The Chinese renminbi would be an option.
The BRICS countries also want more influence in the UN Security Council.
In addition to the BRICS countries Russia and China, permanent members of the Council are the G7 countries USA, France and Great Britain.
In their joint "Beijing Declaration", the participants of the current summit called for a
strengthening
of the role of Brazil, India and South Africa within the United Nations.