On October 22nd at noon local time, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Kazan aboard a special aircraft at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the 16th BRICS Leaders’ Meeting.
Before the plane landed at Kazan International Airport, Russian fighter jets took to the skies to provide a security escort.
Upon arrival, President Xi was warmly greeted at the airport by Rustam Minnikhanov, the head of the Republic of Tatarstan, along with the Republic’s Prime Minister Alexey Pesoshin, the mayor of Kazan, Ilsegar Metshin, and senior officials from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Honoring tradition, soldiers lined the sides of the red carpet to salute the president, while young Russian women dressed in national attire extended a warm welcome with traditional gestures.
A large crowd of local residents, along with members of the Chinese expatriate community, gathered along the roadsides to enthusiastically greet President Xi Jinping.
Later that afternoon, President Xi held discussions with President Putin at the Kazan Kremlin. In the evening, he met with Thongloun Sisoulith, General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and President of Laos.
