Putin will meet with the leaders of “at least six foreign states” in Astana

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in the capital of Kazakhstan to participate in a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Kremlin reported.

The plane carrying the Russian president landed at the airport at five in the morning, reports the newspaper “Vedomosti”. The president of Russia was met at the airport by the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Olzhas Bektenov. Footage of the meeting was published on the government’s Telegram channel. According to TASS and “Vedomosti”, bilateral negotiations are scheduled for the first day of the visit.

On Wednesday, TASS reports, Putin will meet with the leaders of “at least six foreign states.” Among them are Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

On July 4, contacts are scheduled with the acting president of Iran, Mohammad Mohber — he was appointed after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a plane crash. In Astana, the Russian president has a “whole series of important bilateral talks” planned with the heads of state participating in the summit, the Kremlin reported. Participation in the summit of the heads of state of the SCO member countries is scheduled for July 4. Following the meeting, the signing of the Astana Declaration and “other joint documents” is planned.

The Russian president remains in international isolation following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. At least, he has not made trips to Western countries, and during the war, he sharply reduced his foreign travels. In June, during a trip to North Korea, observers noted that against the backdrop of escalating tensions with the West, Putin signed a new cooperation agreement with Pyongyang, including in the military sphere.

The current visit of the Russian president to Kazakhstan is the second since the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia (Kazakhstan has not signed the Rome Statute — the international treaty that established the International Criminal Court. The authorities of Kazakhstan stated that the action of this document does not apply to the republic). In November, Putin visited Astana on an official visit. With his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, they remotely opened the work of the interregional cooperation forum in the Kazakh city of Kostanay. This is Putin’s first visit to Astana since being re-elected for a fifth presidential term in May.

On July 2, the Chairman of China, Xi Jinping, arrived in the capital of Kazakhstan on a state visit. He was greeted at the airport by President Tokayev. The latest message on the official channels of Akorda is about the meeting between the Chinese leader and his Kazakh counterpart. At the upcoming summit in Astana, according to official statements, Belarus will be announced as the tenth member state of the SCO. Currently, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, and Iran.