Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured Chinese President Xi Jinping that he will attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and has also said that he is looking forward to meeting the Chinese President, BBC reported. He made these remarks during a video conference held between the two leaders.
Key Points:
1. President Putin's pledge to attend the 2022 Winter Olympics at Beijing came as multiple countries including the US and Australia recently joined a diplomatic boycott of the games to protest against human rights violations in China, especially the ill-treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
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2. "I would like to point out that we always support each other when it comes to international sports cooperation, including our position against attempts to politicise sports and the Olympic Movement," Putin was quoted as saying by the Chinese state-run media outlet The Global Times.
3. "I expect that we will finally be able to meet in person in Beijing next February. As we agreed earlier, we will hold talks before attending the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games," Putin told Xi, Kyodo News reported.
4. Nations including the US, UK, Australia, Lithuania, and Canada have announced their diplomatic boycott and said that their high-level officials will not be attending the Beijing Winter Olympics.
