MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russian president-elect Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that he intended to pay his first official foreign visits in the capacity of president to Kazakhstan and China.
Medvedev will be inaugurated as Russian president on May 7. Russia's outgoing president, Vladimir Putin, will become prime minister and head the ruling United Russia party.
"As I promised on the night of the [presidential] election, I will first go to Kazakhstan...and from there to China. This will be my first international journey [as president]," Medvedev said in an interview with the popular Russian weekly Argumenty i Fakty.
He did not say when the visits would take place.
When asked if he was going to the Euro 2008 soccer championships to be held in Austria and Switzerland this June, Medvedev said, "I am not planning to, as I am afraid I will not be able to make the trip, but I will be cheering our side on."
