Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping begin talks in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, as a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) gets under way. Multiple outlets report that the SCO meeting brings together more than a dozen heads of state and is approaching its 25th anniversary. Coverage also places the gathering amid major ongoing conflicts and strained relations involving key member and observer countries.
Several reports say Putin and Xi are joined by other leaders during the summit, including Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with additional attendance from Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif. The outlets frame the SCO in terms of its growing geopolitical role and its efforts to coordinate among members facing pressure from the West, including sanctions, trade tensions, and wars. Some analysis pieces emphasize that leaders use the summit to promote a “multipolar” world order and to criticize unilateralism, while others focus more directly on the bilateral meetings taking place alongside the broader SCO agenda.
Overall, reporting aligns on the timing, location, and attendance, with differences mainly in emphasis—some highlight the Putin-Xi diplomacy specifically, while others focus on the summit’s broader messaging about reduced Western influence and expanded regional and global influence.
