Putin Not to have any Bilateral Meeting With Imran Khan
Both leaders will be in the Chinese capital for the start of the Winter Olympics, diplomatically boycotted by the West.
No bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will be taking place next week in Beijing. Even though both leaders will be in the city for the start of the Winter Olympics, diplomatically boycotted by the West. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov to Russia’s TASS said, “I would like to reiterate that there are no bilateral meetings on President Putin’s schedule, except for full-scale talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.” President Putin will be in China on February 4 and also hold summit-level talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The mega sporting event in China will see many world leaders attending the opening. Leaders of all 5 Central Asian countries, Monaco, Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE are among the world leaders to attend the opening of Beijing winter Olympics.
Pakistani was quite keen that the meeting happens in China but the same has been cancelled by Putin himself.
Earlier this month, Pakistan PM had spoken to Russia’s President. According to the Kremlin readout, “The discussion focused on the development of Russian-Pakistani ties in different areas, including trade, the economy, energy and the humanitarian sphere, as well as combatting the spread of the Coronavirus infection.”
This is the second time plans for a bilateral has not come to fruition. Imran Khan was to meet President Putin at the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Dushanbe in September 2021 but the meeting could not take place in person because the Russian President pulled out of the summit last minute.
