Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived today in Kazakhstan, where he will participate in a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). reported TASS, quoted by BTA, referring to a message on the website of the Kremlin.
The main program of the forum is scheduled for tomorrow. The program includes discussion of the international and regional agenda, as well as the signing of 24 documents.
Today, Putin will hold talks with at least six heads of state, including the presidents of Turkey and China, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Xi Jinping. He will also meet with the leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Pakistan.
Tomorrow, Putin will talk to the acting president of Iran, Mohammad Mohbar. Other meetings are not excluded, the Kremlin also announced.
The SCO was created in 2001 at the initiative of Russia and China to ensure security in Eurasia, Reuters notes. At its summit last year, which was held in a video conference format, the organization criticized the negative consequences of "unilateral and unrestricted expansion of global missile defense systems by certain countries or groups of countries", without specifically mentioning NATO expansion and Western military aid for Ukraine.