Putin to embark on first foreign trip, since Ukraine conflict

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to make his first foreign trip to Central Asian countries - Tajikistan and Turkmenistan- since the beginning of the February 24 conflict with Ukraine.

Pavel Zarubin, the Kremlin correspondent of the Rossiya 1 state television station, said Putin would visit Tajikistan and Turkmenistan and then meet Indonesian President Joko Widodo for talks in Moscow.

In Dushanbe, Putin will meet Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, a close Russian ally and the longest-serving ruler of a former Soviet state. In Ashgabat, he will attend a summit of Caspian nations including the leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Turkmenistan, Zarubin said.

Russian leader's first known trip abroad since ordering the invasion of Ukraine comes in the wake of multiple sanctions imposed on Moscow.

Moreover, the G7 Summit being held in Germany will have a special focus on Ukraine as the leaders of the world's wealthiest nations gathered in the Bavarian Alps on the sidelines of the G7 Summit indicating Ukraine was a main topic of conversation.

President Joe Biden said, "Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold, a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia."

Earlier as well, Biden tweeted, "The United States has imposed unprecedented costs on Putin to deny him the revenue he needs to fund his war against Ukraine. Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold, a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia."

Notably, these measures were initially flagged by the United Kingdom.

However, a senior US administration representative who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters that the G7 would make an official announcement on the gold import ban on Tuesday.

A White House readout of Biden's meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated Ukraine was a main topic of conversation.

"The leaders underlined their commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as their continued provision of military, economic, humanitarian, and diplomatic support to help Ukraine defend its democracy against Russian aggression," the White House readout said.

"The leaders also discussed efforts to alleviate the impacts of Russia's war in Ukraine on global food and energy security," added the release.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) on Monday (local time) to press Western nations for accelerated sanctions on Russia.

The rising cost of energy, fears of global food shortages and the certain inevitability that war fatigue will set in have lent urgency to the discussions about where the conflict goes next.

Zelenskyy is also planning to address this week's NATO summit in Madrid, has pressed the West for accelerated sanctions on Moscow and heavy artillery to beat back the Russian invaders, reported CNN.

Russia was ejected from the then-G8 in 2014 after Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. Putin's last known trip outside Russia was a visit to the Beijing in early February during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games, where he and Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled a "no limits" friendship treaty.