Singapore PM Lawrence Wong to visit Russia’s Kazan, first since Ukraine war sanctions

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is set to visit the Russian city of Kazan next week in a trip that would mark the first high-level talks between leaders from both sides since the city state imposed sanctions on Moscow over its Ukraine" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="129729" data-entity-type="event">invasion of Ukraine, sources have confirmed.Wong will attend the Russia-commemorative-summit" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="143594" data-entity-type="event">Asean-Russia Commemorative Summit from June 17 to June 19 to mark the 35th anniversary of dialogue relations between Moscow and Asean, according to sources who spoke to This Week in Asia on condition of anonymity. They did not confirm if Wong will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Putin will reportedly host the summit.Diplomatic ties between the two countries have been cold since Singapore strongly condemned Russia’s Ukraine" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="129729" data-entity-type="event">invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 on multiple occasions in parliament and the UN, and was the only Association of Southeast Asian Nations member to impose sanctions on Moscow.