MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. China hosts the largest-ever Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin; EU foreign ministers were unable to reach specific decisions on Ukraine or funding at the Copenhagen summit; and the Iran nuclear deal faces breakdown as the US refuses to resume negotiations. These stories topped Monday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
The annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) kicked off on August 31 in China, this time in the country’s northern region - Tianjin, a centrally administered port city located just over 100 km from the Chinese capital. Russian President Vladimir Putin also arrived in Tianjin, and he will stay in China for four days and attend the September 2 military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Second World War. Experts interviewed by Vedomosti pointed out that the SCO’s flexibility allows it to shift between security and development priorities, yet its most important outcomes depend on direct negotiations between member states as well as financial issues, though decisive matters are still resolved bilaterally.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, the 2025 summit is attended by 21 heads of state. These are not only the leaders of countries with dialogue partner status, but also United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Alongside all the leaders of SCO member states, China, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus, the summit also welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visiting China for the first time in six years, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
