Putin to meet Xi and Modi
Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Kyrgyzstan where he is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
The three national leaders will later attend the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian group of nations seeking to improve security and economic ties.
Originally a five-member regional group that included China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan which signed its first agreement in Shanghai, the SCO has since expanded to become the biggest regional organizations for cooperation. It includes ten permanent members, 15 dialogue partners and two observer states.
The group has a range of political, security and economic goals and has been called by its members a key mechanism in transition to a new multipolar world system, replacing the period of US unipolarity that followed the Cold War.
The SCO states say Western nations are engaging in increasingly hostile and disruptive activity as their global dominance slips away, and having a forum where other nations can agree on joint responses to new challenges becomes more important.
- 11:20 GMT
Some members of the welcome party are dressed as characters from the Kyrgyz epic Manas. The capital’s airport was named the protagonist, the eponymous folk hero.
- 10:13 GMT
Russia and China consider each other strategic partners and describe their current relations as the closest in the history of the two nations.
The ties became increasingly important after the US declared both its strategic rivals whose power needed to be undercut to maintain Washington’s global positions.
In recent years the Russo-Chinese bilateral trade has largely shifted into domestic currencies, which protects it from the threat of Western sanctions.
- 10:12 GMT
Xi, who hosted the previous SCO summit in August-September 2025, is the first foreign leader on Putin’s public itinerary.
The in-person meeting is the second for the two leaders this year, though the specifics of their agenda have not been revealed to the public.
There is speculation in the Russian press about a possible breakthrough in negotiations on the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline megaproject. The proposed route would link Russian natural gas fields in Western Siberia with Mongolian and Chinese consumers. Moscow and Beijing reportedly have yet to agree upon terms for volumes of supplied fuel and pricing.
- 08:06 GMT
On Monday, Putin will also attend the opening ceremony of the World Nomad Games, a championship for historic sports, in which Russia will be represented by 230 athletes from the parts of the country with strong nomadic cultural traditions. Participants of the games will be competing in horseback riding, wrestling, archery, falconry and other events.
- 08:06 GMT
SCO events on Tuesday will include a meeting of leaders, an expanded SCO+ meeting that includes partners and observers, as well as a number of bilateral meetings. The group intends to approve about two dozen documents, including an addendum to the organization’s charter, which was signed in 2002 in St. Petersburg.
- 08:06 GMT
Putin is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with Xi and Modi on Monday. He will also have a one-on-one with Kazakhstan President Kasym-Zhomart Tokaev later in the day.
Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov described the meeting with Xi as “very important,” while calling the Modi contact a prelude to the Russian president’s state visit to New Delhi scheduled for September.
