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 will visit
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.
