Updated · Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty · Aug 31
Putin Schedules 9 SCO Meetings in Bishkek as Russia Seeks to Counter Western Influence
Updated
Updated · Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty · Aug 31
Putin Schedules 9 SCO Meetings in Bishkek as Russia Seeks to Counter Western Influence
3 articles · Updated · Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty · Aug 31
Summary
At least nine bilateral meetings are on Putin’s schedule at the two-day SCO summit in Bishkek, including talks with Xi Jinping, Iran’s Masud Pezeshkian, Narendra Modi and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Moscow is using the summit’s 25th anniversary to project Russia as a regional counterweight to the West while it faces sanctions, economic strain, Ukrainian drone strikes and setbacks among partners including Iran, Syria and Venezuela.
A Putin-Pezeshkian meeting will center on the Middle East crisis and a $25 billion Rosatom deal to build four nuclear power plants in Iran, even as both countries remain under heavy Western sanctions.
Putin is also due to see Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, with tensions elevated after Armenia’s EU overtures and the August 25 arrest of ex-president Robert Kocharian, a pro-Moscow opposition leader.
After Bishkek, Putin heads to Vladivostok for the September 1-4 Eastern Economic Forum, extending his push to deepen ties across Asia.