<span style="color: #222222;">Russian president Vladimir Putin has pledged to attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He becomes the first major western leader to indicate his attendance. His remarks came in a video call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who said he looked forward to a get-together.<br />''<br />''It comes as a growing number of countries have joined a diplomatic boycott of the Games. This is due to alleged human rights abuses in China, which Beijing denies.<br />''<br />''The US, UK, Australia and Canada have said their high-level officials will not be attending the winter Games, which will take place in February, as a result. However, athletes from these countries will still be in attendance. Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also added that he had no plans to attend the Games at the moment.</span><br />