Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to land in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin on August 31 to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) chaired by President Xi Jinping and about 20 other world leaders.
The summit runs until September 1, just before a massive military parade in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. It will be the bloc’s biggest meeting since its founding in 2001.
The SCO includes China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, with 16 other countries as observers or “dialogue partners”.
In an interview published by Xinhua, Putin said the summit would “strengthen the SCO’s ability to respond to contemporary challenges and threats, and strengthen unity across Eurasia”.
“All this will help shape a more equitable multipolar world order,” the Russian leader said.
On the sidelines of the summit, Putin is expected to hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the Ukraine conflict and Tehran’s nuclear programme, according to AFP.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also meet Mr Putin in China after speaking by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
