Vladimir Putin will visit two small former Soviet states in central Asia this week, Russian state television reported on Sunday. It would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since ordering the invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more and led to severe financial sanctions from the West, a reason for Russia to build stronger trade ties with other powers such as China, India and Iran. Pavel Zarubin, the Kremlin correspondent of the Rossiya 1 state television station, said Putin would visit Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. He wi…