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Putin to Visit China Twice This Year -- Ivanov
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China twice before the end of the year, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Sunday at the start of talks with his Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan, news agencies reported.
Ivanov declined to give precise details of the visits, but Putin is scheduled to attend a summit of the "Shanghai Five" group of nations in Shanghai on June 15.
The Russian foreign minister said Sunday that Putin would "visit China twice" during 2001, Interfax reported, but the timing of a subsequent visit is not yet known.
The Shanghai Five comprises China and the four former Soviet republics with which it shares a border -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin is expected to pay an official visit to Moscow before the beginning of July, while Premier Zhu Rongji is due to hold talks with his Russian counterpart in Moscow in September.
Ivanov hailed this year's flurry of diplomatic visits as "very fruitful."
"It will be a culmination for Russia and China," Interfax quoted Ivanov as saying.
After his meeting with Ivanov, Tang Jiaxuan was due to hold separate talks with Putin at the Kremlin on Sunday.
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