BEIJING: Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a two-day state visit to China this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Putin will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his visit starting on Thurday, it said.
The Kremlin in a statement confirmed the trip and said Putin was going on Xi’s invitation. It said that this will be Putin’s first foreign trip since he was sworn in as president and began his fifth term in office.
The two continent-sized authoritarian states, increasingly in dispute with democracies and NATO, seek to gain influence in Africa, the Middle East and South America. China has backed Russia’s claim that President Vladimir Putin launched his assault on Ukraine in 2022 because of Western provocations, without producing any solid evidence.
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Russian president Putin to make a state visit to China this week
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Russian president Putin to make a state visit to China this week
- The Kremlin in a statement confirmed the trip and said Putin was going on Xi’s invitation
Violent protests break out in Albania over allegations of government graft
- Demonstrators hurled petrol bombs at a government building and police responded with water canon
- Belinda Balluku denies charges that she interfered in public tenders for major infrastructure projects
TIRANA: Anti-government protesters clashed with police in Albania’s capital Tirana on Tuesday evening as thousands gathered to demand the resignation of the deputy prime minister over alleged corruption.
Demonstrators hurled petrol bombs at a government building and police responded with water canon in the latest in a string of violent protests that pose a threat to the stability of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s long hold on power, which began in 2013. Political tensions have escalated since December after a special prosecution unit indicted Rama’s deputy, Belinda Balluku, for allegedly interfering in public tenders for major infrastructure projects and favoring certain companies, charges Balluku denies.
Thousands of people at the main square in Tirana carried flags and banners and chanted “Rama go home, this corrupted government should resign.” Special police in riot gear protected the government building.
The Special Prosecution Office, tasked with combating corruption and organized crime, has requested that parliament lifts Balluku’s immunity this week to enable her arrest. It is not clear when the parliament, where Rama’s ruling party holds a majority, is expected to vote or if it will vote at all.
Demonstrators hurled petrol bombs at a government building and police responded with water canon in the latest in a string of violent protests that pose a threat to the stability of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s long hold on power, which began in 2013. Political tensions have escalated since December after a special prosecution unit indicted Rama’s deputy, Belinda Balluku, for allegedly interfering in public tenders for major infrastructure projects and favoring certain companies, charges Balluku denies.
Thousands of people at the main square in Tirana carried flags and banners and chanted “Rama go home, this corrupted government should resign.” Special police in riot gear protected the government building.
The Special Prosecution Office, tasked with combating corruption and organized crime, has requested that parliament lifts Balluku’s immunity this week to enable her arrest. It is not clear when the parliament, where Rama’s ruling party holds a majority, is expected to vote or if it will vote at all.
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