Facing increasing confrontations with the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin looks eastward to bolster his country’s standing in the region — including with Iran — at a major summit in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital.
Putin is set to hold bilateral meetings with Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, among at least seven others, starting August 31 on the sidelines of the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Putin is also expected to hold bilateral sessions with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of non-SCO nation Turkey.
Kremlin officials said Putin has at least nine bilateral meetings scheduled as Moscow looks to place Russia as a counterweight to Western influence in the region.
Putin and Xi have often used SCO gatherings to put up a united front against Western influence in the region. Xi arrived late on August 30 and held his first meeting with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, who will serve as host of the summit.
Along with Russia, Iran, India, and China, the SCO grouping consists of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Not all members are allies, of course, with nuclear powers Pakistan and India often on the brink of war with each other.
Originally The ‘Shanghai Five’
The organization began as the “Shanghai Five” in 1996 but began expanding to other regional nations starting in 2001.
Moscow and Tehran are both under crippling Western sanctions — Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Iran for a multitude of issues, including its support for extremist activity in the Middle East and its alleged pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
Kyiv and the West have demanded that Iran cease from providing deadly Shahed drones to Russia for use in the Ukraine war, while US officials told RFE/RL that Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack US troops and military assets in the Middle East, confirming a Washington Post report.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said “one of the key subjects” in the talks between Putin and Pezeshkian will be the Middle East crisis. “You know how relevant this meeting is in light of the current uneasy atmosphere in the Middle East and the situation surrounding Iran,” he added.
Also on the agenda will be the $25 billion agreement signed by Tehran with Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom to build four nuclear power plants in Iran.
Leaders of SCO nations attend the 2025 summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin.
Naser al-Tamimi, a UK-based analyst and founder of MidEast Strategia, wrote on X that the SCO can help largely isolated Iran, “but only to a point.”
“The SCO offers Iran broader political cover, helps reduce its international isolation and expands opportunities for trade and settlements in yuan, rubles and other national currencies. In doing so, it can modestly reduce Tehran’s dependence on the Western financial system.”
“But the SCO is not an economic shield against US sanctions. It lacks a fully developed alternative financial architecture, provides no reliable protection for major banks and companies exposed to secondary sanctions, and cannot compel China or India to absorb high economic costs on Iran’s behalf.”
UN Chief Expected
Along with Turkey, other nonmember nations and others participating and observing will include Armenia, Azerbaijan, UN chief Antonio Guterres, and heads of several Moscow-oriented international organizations.
Putin is scheduled to meet Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, whose country has long been an ally of Russia but which has angered Moscow by seeking to move closer to the West.
Tensions heightened between the two countries after Armenian police on August 25 arrested former President Robert Kocharian, now leader of the country’s second-largest opposition party, amid accusations of corruption-related offenses.
Kocharian, 71, served as Armenia’s president between 1998 and 2008. He currently leads the Armenia Alliance, which is considered pro-Moscow and finished third in recent parliamentary elections in June.
Yerevan has also angered Moscow by its recent expressions of the desire to eventually join the European Union.
“We will insist that Armenia cannot aspire for EU membership while hugely benefiting from cooperation within the European Economic Union (EEU),” said Ushakov, referring to the five-member trade bloc that also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Following the Bishkek event, Putin is scheduled to travel to Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum on Russia’s Pacific coast from September 1-4.
He is also set to meet with leaders of several other countries there, including the Indonesian president and Mongolian prime minister.
