Putin and Xi due in Kyrgyzstan for SCO summit as bloc marks 25 years

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due in Kyrgyzstan on Monday for a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Group in the capital, Bishkek. The gathering is expected to bring together around a dozen heads of state, including the leaders of Iran and India. It comes as the regional bloc marks 25 years since its founding.

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The summit is being held in Bishkek and is set to include a plenary session chaired by Kyrgyz leader Sadyr Japarov. Iran will be represented by President Masoud Pezeshkian, while India's Narendra Modi and Pakistan's Shehbaz Sharif are also due to take part. Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov said Putin is expected to hold separate bilateral talks with Pezeshkian and Xi, among others.

The meeting comes at a time when several members of the group are facing war, sanctions and trade tensions with Western countries. Russia and Iran are among the most sanctioned states in the world, and their ties have deepened during the war in Ukraine. The summit also takes place six months into the war between Washington and Tehran, adding to the diplomatic sensitivity of the gathering.

The Shanghai Cooperation Group has increasingly been used by Moscow and Beijing to promote a vision of a multipolar world and to present a united front against Western influence. The bloc originally focused on economic issues, but it has gained momentum in recent years under Russian and Chinese leadership. Its membership now includes Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, four Central Asian countries and Moscow-allied Belarus.

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The group also has 15 dialogue partners, among them Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and two observer countries, Afghanistan and Mongolia. Its founding declaration says it is not an alliance directed against other states, although its leaders have often used the forum to signal strategic alignment. The presence of several major powers in Bishkek underlines the bloc's growing geopolitical weight.

What remains unclear is the extent of any concrete agreements that may emerge from the summit, including whether the bilateral meetings will produce new statements on security, trade or regional coordination. The main plenary session and side talks are expected to provide the clearest indication of how closely the members are aligning their positions. Attention will also be on whether the gathering produces any visible response to tensions involving Russia, Iran and the West.

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