Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Malaysia next week as part of the first Russia-Asean summit and to take part as a guest at the regular East Asian summit, the Kremlin said Tuesday.
The Russian leader also plans to hold a series of bilateral meetings at the summit, which will be attended by leaders of the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as well as of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
The summmit is due to be held December 13 and 14 in Kuala Lumpur. ASEAN does not include the United States, and Putin's participation in the meeting comes after the Kremlin made clear earlier this year that Russia hoped to play a greater role in various regional organisations around the world.