BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping left Beijing on Thursday afternoon for a visit to Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus.

Xi's visit to Kazakhstan is at the invitation of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

At the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Xi will visit Russia from May 8 to 10 and attend the ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow.

Xi will pay a state visit to Belarus from May 10 to 12 at the invitation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Xi's entourage includes his wife Peng Liyuan; Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Fan Changlong, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission; Li Zhanshu, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.