Putin, Xi set to meet on Thursday in Samarkand

 Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China February 4, 2022. Sputnik/Aleksey Druzhinin/Kremlin via REUTERS/File Photo

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan — Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan early on Thursday afternoon, a schedule distributed by the Russian delegation to media showed.

The two leaders are in Samarkand to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security group. They will also hold a three-way meeting with Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh.

Separately, the Uzbek government said Putin was traveling to Samarkand and would also meet Iranian, Kyrgyz, Pakistani, Turkmen and Uzbek leaders.

On Friday, Putin is set to meet the leaders of Azerbaijan, India and Turkey, it added in a statement.

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