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Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message against the West over Russia's invasion of Ukraine as he stood shoulder to shoulder with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as the two leaders highlighted their close ties during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China.
Speaking to other leaders at the two-day summit in Tianjin on September 1, Putin said the war in Ukraine did not come about "as a result of a Russian attack" but because of a Western-backed coup in Kiev, according to statements carried by the Russian news agency TASS.
These statements were an inaccurate reference to the Maidan protests, which ousted pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014 after he abandoned a trade deal with the European Union and leaned toward Russia.
Putin added that what he called the West's efforts to draw NATO into Ukraine posed a "direct threat to Russia's security," a claim the military alliance has repeatedly denied.
Putin then praised the SCO – which includes Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan – as a model for a “system that would replace the outdated Central European and Euro-Atlantic models,” referring to the Western-backed financial and security organizations that have shaped global institutions since World War II.
These comments came on the second day of the SCO summit, a summit that was already focused on China's growing diplomatic influence, including many orchestrated moments intended to show the deepening relationship between Beijing and Moscow, highlighting the close personal rapport between Putin and Xi.
The summit was also an opportunity for China to present itself as a leader of the Global South who prioritizes economic stability, aiming to provide a contrast to the uncertainty brought about by US President Donald Trump's tariff regime and the US's cutoff of foreign aid.
"We should harness the power of our giant markets and economic complementarity among member states and improve trade and investment facilitation," Xi told leaders at the summit during a 14-minute speech.
The Chinese leader pledged 2 billion yuan (about $280 million) in grants to SCO member states this year, as well as 10 billion yuan (about $1.4 billion) in loans to an SCO banking consortium. He also called for the early establishment of an SCO Development Bank./ REL
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