Putin, Xi hold talks in Kyrgyzstan as regional summit begins

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping began talks Monday in Kyrgyzstan, where a dozen other heads of state also gathered for a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which seeks to be a counterbalance to the West. Iran’s leader Masoud Pezeshkian, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, India’s Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif were also among those in Bishkek to attend the summit of the regional SCO bloc, which celebrates its 25-year anniversary. The summit takes place four-and-a-half years into Moscow’s Ukraine invasion and six months into the war between Washington and Tehran.