Putin announces May's visit to China

MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) - Russian President Putin plans to visit China in May, he said.

"I have a visit planned for May, I will definitely take this book along with me and hand it over to our friend," Putin said at a congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs on Thursday.

One of the congress participants, having mentioned the forthcoming Beijing visit during his speech, asked the president to present Chinese President Xi Jinping with a book by Nikolai Chernyshevsky, titled "What Is To be Done?" during the trip. The book was published in 1953 and arrived in a library on June 15, as is attested by a stamp on one of the pages, he said.

"This is the day and year of birth of Xi Jinping [the Chinese president was born on June 15, 1953]. This is his favorite author and his favorite book," the congress attendee said.