Putin, the leaders of China and Iran will gather for a summit in Kyrgyzstan
Kyiv • UNN
Putin and Xi Jinping will attend the SCO summit in Bishkek together with the leaders of Iran, India and Pakistan.
Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to visit Central Asian Kyrgyzstan on Monday to attend a two-day summit that will also be attended by the leaders of Iran and India, of a regional bloc seeking to counter the West, AFP reports, writes UNN.
Details
Around a dozen heads of state will travel to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
The group brings together Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, four Central Asian countries and Moscow's ally 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 will take place four and a half years after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and six months after the start of the war between Washington and Tehran. Iran will be represented by its President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Putin, Xi Jinping, Pezeshkian, as well as Indian leader Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, will participate in a plenary session chaired by Kyrgyz leader Sadyr Japarov.
Putin is also expected to hold separate bilateral talks with Iran's Pezeshkian and China's Xi Jinping, among other leaders, Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov said.
Russia and Iran — among the most sanctioned states in the world — have significantly deepened their military and economic ties during the war in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump warned Moscow and Beijing against arming Iran.
Putin's meeting with Pezeshkian will take place a few days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a rare trip to Moscow, and US media suggest that he may have discussed Ukraine and Iran with his Russian counterparts.
The SCO has historically focused on economic issues. It has gained momentum in recent years under the leadership of Moscow and Beijing.
In addition to its 10 members, the SCO now has 15 "dialogue partners," including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It also has two observer countries: Afghanistan and Mongolia.
The SCO's founding declaration states that the group "is not an alliance directed against other states". But Putin and Xi have repeatedly delivered anti-Western speeches during summits, the publication notes.
At last year's meeting, Putin accused Western countries of provoking the war in Ukraine, while Xi condemned "acts of intimidation," referring to tensions between the United States and China, the publication writes.
The Bishkek summit is taking place as some SCO members are embroiled in actual wars — the wars in Ukraine and with Iran — or trade wars, with the United States imposing tariffs on Chinese and Indian goods, the publication notes.
This month, the United States imposed secondary sanctions on Iran's trading partners in the gold, technology, digital assets, aviation and maritime transport sectors, aiming to paralyse the Iranian regime.
Washington has also threatened Iran's allies with sanctions.
China, the main importer of Iranian oil, responded that it would "resolutely defend" its interests.
Iran, which has lived under sanctions since the 1979 revolution that ended with the Islamic authorities coming to power, has regularly stated that it would not yield to economic pressure.
But Pezeshkian acknowledged that his country is facing "economic difficulties."
Iran joined the bloc only in 2023.
Mohammad Hassan Najmi, an international relations expert, told AFP that Tehran "believes that its membership and active participation in these alliances could enable it to circumvent US and European sanctions."
But the group's concrete benefits are unclear, he said, since "in times of crisis, these alliances have rarely enabled Iran to resolve its difficulties."
Although the bloc claims to represent about 40 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of global GDP, it remains diverse, with some disagreements among its members. Russia and China compete for influence in Central Asia — a resource-rich region crucial for transporting goods between Europe and Asia — while Beijing has at times had tense relations with India and Pakistan.