Putin, Xi arrive in Kazakhstan for Russia-China dominated SCO summit

Russia's President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for regional security and defence talks, the Kremlin said, as well as a series of bilateral meetings, including with Chinese and Turkish leaders.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Kazakhstan on Tuesday for a state visit, during which he will attend a meeting of Shanghai alliance nations in the Kazakh capital Astana.

The nine-member Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which encompasses a vast stretch of the globe from Moscow to Beijing, includes around half the world's population.

Its permanent members are this year's host Kazakhstan, India, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and, as of last year, Iran.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a forum established by China and Russia in 2001 as a guardian of security in the Eurasia region, will meet for their summit on July 3-4 in Kazakhstan's capital city of Astana.

"The leaders of the SCO member countries will discuss the current state and prospects for further deepening multifaceted cooperation within the organization and improving its activities," the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.

While the meeting is likely to be dominated by Russia and China, leaders or representatives of Azerbaijan, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, China, Mongolia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan, are also expected to attend.

United Nation Secretary General Antonio Guterres, is also expected, Russian agencies said on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Russia said Putin will hold series of bilateral talks, including with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is expected in Moscow this month, will not attend and the country will be represented by Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the ministry said on Tuesday.

At last year's virtual summit, the group issued a statement critical of what it said was the negative impact of "unilateral and unlimited expansion of global missile defence systems by certain countries or groups of countries", without directly referring to NATO's expansion and Western military assistance to Ukraine.

Agencies