INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The secretary of Russia's Security Council Sergei Shoigu will visit China next week for talks with top Chinese officials, Russian state
news agencies reported.Moscow and Beijing have deepened military and defense ties since Russia ordered troops into Ukraine nearly three
years ago, with Chinese President Xi Jinping one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most important allies on the world stage.Shoigu
said in a statement cited by Russian state media.The pair will discuss "current problems of international and regional security, as well as
a wide range of topics on bilateral cooperation," Russia said.Shoigu was Russia's defense minister for the first two years of its
offensive on Ukraine, before being moved to the Security Council by Putin after a string of military setbacks and criticism from the
country's influential military correspondents.He will also meet with top Chinese security official Chen Wenqing, who heads the ruling
Communist Party's powerful Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
