PLENARY SESSION:
Although the SCO says it is ‘not an alliance directed against other states,’ Putin and Xi have repeatedly made anti-Western speeches during its summits
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) are expected tomorrow in Kyrgyzstan for a two-day summit, also attended by Iran’s and India’s leaders, of a regional bloc seeking to be a counter-influence to the West. Around a dozen heads of states would head to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to mark 25 years of the Shanghai Cooperation Group (SCO). The group brings together Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, four Central Asian countries and Moscow-allied Belarus. Putin and Xi have previously used SCO summits to promote their vision of a multipolar world and present a united front against the West. It takes place four-and-a-half years into Moscow’s Ukraine invasion and six months into the war between Washington and Tehran. Iran would be represented by its president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Chinese President Xi jinping, right, shows the way to Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, China, on Sept. 1 last year.
Putin, Xi, Pezeshkian as well as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are due to take part in a plenary session chaired by Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov. Putin is expected to hold separate bilateral talks with Pezeshkian and Xi, among other leaders, Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov said.
