Russia’s Putin Plans to Visit China in May

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he will visit China in May, in what is believed to be his first trip abroad after securing his re-election in March. Mr. Putin announced his plans for the visit at a congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow. He didn’t disclose an exact date, nor did he provide further details. The 71-year-old Russian leader will begin his fifth term on May 7 after winning 87 percent of the vote against three insignificant rivals in what the United States and other Western nations have called a sham election. Russia’s growing economic and diplomatic isolation due to its invasion of Ukraine has driven the country closer to China, its former rival for leadership of the communist bloc during the Cold War....