MOSCOW, May 14, 2024 (BSS/TASS) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to China on the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Kremlin press service said.

"At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to the People's Republic of China on May 16-17, 2024 in his first visit abroad after taking office," its statement reads.

The visit to China will be Putin's first foreign visit after his re-election as the Russian president, and, as Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said earlier, will be a "reciprocal step to the first official visit of President Xi Jinping which took place last year also following his re-election."

According to diplomatic protocol, a state visit is the highest-ranking among international visits. Moscow and Beijing are linked by ties of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction while Putin and Xi in addition to their regular working relationship are also friends. Even during the pandemic they continued to talk via video link and the Russian president visited the opening ceremony of Winter Olympics in Beijing in February 2022.

All of this plays an important role in the development of bilateral cooperation. It is not by accident that on March 20-22 last year, merely 10 days after being re-elected for another five-year term, the Chinese president came to Russia on an official visit. In turn, President Putin was the guest of honor at the Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing in October 2023.