Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (center)
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Putin Headed for Beijing Games Opening
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will be in Beijing August 8 and 9 for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. He will meet Russian athletes and hold bilateral meetings with Chinese leaders and U.S. President George W. Bush. Putin will attend the formal reception the Chinese are hosting for their guests. More than 85 heads of state and about ten monarchs are expected in Beijing.
Besides the U.S. president, Putin will meet with President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev and International Olympic Committee chairman Jacques Rogge, with whom he will discuss the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. A source in the Russian government commented that “In spite of the bust schedules of the Chinese in those days and hours, full-scale contacts, ones far from formal, are foreseen.”
In particular, Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao will have lunch together. The Russian Prime Minister will also have talks with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and will meet with former leader Jiang Zemin. Of all the leaders attending the Olympic opening, Hu is meeting only with Putin and the presidents of the U.S. and Kazakhstan. The Russian government source said that Putin will discuss bilateral relations with the Chinese leaders, including energy issues, civil aviation, ecology and preparations for the next meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which may take place in Moscow in October.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin visited China July 26 and 27. He held talks on energy along with representatives of Gazprom and Rosneft. He later characterized those talks as “successful.”
www.kommersant.com
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