China’s top lawmaker Li Zhanshu will visit Russia next week, state media reported on Sunday, making him the most senior Communist Party politician to visit the country since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Beijing and Moscow have grown closer in recent years, intensifying cooperation in what they call a “borderless” relationship, acting as a counterbalance to the global dominance of the United States.

Meanwhile, tensions between China and the West have risen as Beijing refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and offered diplomatic protection by blowing up Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv.

According to the official Xinhua News Agency, Li, third in the Chinese government hierarchy, will make official visits to Russia, Mongolia, Nepal and South Korea from Wednesday to September 17.

He will attend the Eastern Economic Forum, scheduled to be held over four days from Monday in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, Xinhua reported.

Li, 72, is expected to step down from his role in the Communist Party next month at a landmark conference where President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a third straight term that will break a precedent.

Xi himself has not left China since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.