Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, a Central Asian nation with strong ties to Moscow, during what was his first foreign trip since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him in March.

The Kremlin chief has rarely travelled abroad since he sent troops into Ukraine in early 2022 and is not known to have left Russia since the ICC issued a warrant for him, accusing him of overseeing the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine.

Russia does not recognise the ICC’s jurisdiction and has rejected its allegations against Putin.

The Russian leader is also due to travel to China next week for the third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. Neither Kyrgyzstan nor China are members of the ICC, which was established to prosecute war crimes.

His two-day trip to Kyrgyzstan will culminate in his participation in a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a grouping of some former Soviet republics, in Bishkek on Friday amid signs that Russia’s influence in some parts of the Soviet Union, such as Armenia, is under pressure.

Moscow’s ties with other countries in an area it has traditionally regarded as its backyard have come under pressure over their enforcement of Western sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine.

At a meeting with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov on Thursday, Putin underscored Russia’s importance as a key trade partner and the biggest investor in the Kyrgyz economy and said the two sides would further develop cooperation.

He said he would also attend a ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of Russia’s Kant military airbase which is located outside Bishkek, a strategically-important outpost which allows Moscow to project power in the region.

Putin cited double-digit growth in Russian-Kyrgyz trade, which some in the West suspect is partly due to Kyrgyz intermediaries facilitating sanctions-busting by Russian businesses.

The United States imposed sanctions on four Kyrgyz companies in July for re-exporting electronics components and other technology to Russia. Kyrgyzstan’s central bank last week urged local banks to tighten controls over compliance with Western sanctions against Moscow.