MOSCOW

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on Thursday to participate in three summits, his aide said on Wednesday.

During his two-day visit to Astana, Putin will attend the VI Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, Council of heads of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Russia-Central Asia summit, Yury Ushakov said at a news conference in Moscow.

Ushakov noted that leaders of 11 states will also attend the events, including Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Iran, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Palestine, Tajikistan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan.

China and Vietnam will be represented by deputy heads of state, he added.

Putin will also have several trilateral and bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summits.

Putin will discuss the issue of Nagorno Karabakh with the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and border disputes with the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Ushakov said.

The Russian president on Thursday will meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with whom he may discuss a possibility of dialogue between Russia and the leading European countries, Türkiye's mediation efforts on Ukraine.

"The leaders of the two countries maintain regular contacts due to the fact that Türkiye fundamentally does not join the illegal anti-Russian sanctions of the West.

"The fact that Türkiye takes such a position gives an additional impetus to the expansion of trade and economic partnership," Ushakov said.

Commenting on the refusal of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to hold peace talks with Russia as long as Putin serves as its president, he said: "Never say never."

With Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Putin will discuss the situation in the Middle East and bilateral relations, he continued.


Putin is also due to meet Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to discuss the situation in the Middle East, Ukraine and energy cooperation, Ushakov said.