Russia reveals Putin's first foreign destination after re-election

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China in May for talks with Xi Jinping, in what could be the Kremlin chief's first overseas trip of his new presidential term, according to five sources familiar with the matter.

"Putin will visit China," one of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. The details were independently confirmed by four other sources, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Another of the sources said Putin's trip to China would probably take place in the second half of May. Two of the sources said the Putin visit would come before Xi's planned trip to Europe.

The Kremlin, when asked about the Reuters report, said information on Putin's visits would be released closer to the date.

"Several presidential visits and several high-level contacts are being prepared at the moment," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "We will inform you as we get closer."

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat while U.S. President Joe Biden argues that this century will be defined by an existential contest between democracies and autocracies.

Putin and Xi share a broad worldview, which sees the West as decadent and in decline just as China challenges U.S. supremacy in everything from quantum computing and synthetic biology to espionage and hard military power.