Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Czech President Miloš Zeman during his upcoming visit to China. Yuriy Ushakov, the Kremlin’s foreign policy adviser, told TASS. A meeting planned for Thursday, Putin is also scheduled to meet with the presidents of Venezuela and Laos on the same day. Spokesman Zeman Jiří Ovčáček confirmed the meeting.
“As part of his visit to the People’s Republic of China, the President will meet with the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, on Thursday, September 3. The meeting will take place at 2:30 p.m. and is planned for approximately 45 minutes,” Ovčáček said. “The topics will be security and economic issues,” he added. Zeman will also meet his Chinese counterpart and other politicians.
According to Ušakov, the Czech-Russian summit will be held on the sidelines of celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, in which the two statesmen will participate. The meeting will be held on Thursday following the conclusion of the military parade and ceremonial reception, which will be hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping for foreign guests.
Tribute to the fallen
Zeman will depart for a five-day visit to China on Tuesday. “I consider my trip to China an expression of recognition for the 17 million citizens who died in World War II. If someone claims that this war was not our war, they are demonstrating historical ignorance,” Zeman said of his trip. during today’s “endless” press conference.
The second objective of the president’s visit is to deepen existing economic cooperation. “I hope some important agreements will be signed during my trip to China,” Zeman said without elaborating.
The only one from the West
According to the official guest list more than twenty heads of state will take part in the ceremonial parade. But Zeman will be the only top representative from Western nations. Foreign ministers will arrive for Italy and France, for example, while ambassadors will represent the United States, Germany, Canada and the European Union.
Zeman last saw Putin this May in Moscow, where he had come to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two on the European battlefields. Their talks at the time were primarily aimed at economic cooperation with an emphasis on Czech claims in Russia.
Zeman kept his word and did not watch from the stands the military parade on Red Square, which was perceived as a demonstration of Russia’s military power against the backdrop of the Ukrainian conflict. His visit to Russia at the time divided Czech politicians. Last February, Zeman attended a reception hosted by Putin on the occasion of the opening of the Olympics in Sochi. The two statesmen also met in Moscow in April 2002, when Zeman was still Czech prime minister.
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